"...I made snacks" June's voice could be heard from the hallway. It was vegs and dip, hell... she wasn't a cook.

Pietro sighed, "Not hungry..." he leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling, "... can you... leave me alone for awhile?" he didn't want to deal with her or anyone for awhile.

"Alright but we're gonna come back later, Mister." June warned signalling the boys to follow. "Come on, dinner isn't gonna make itself."

Pietro grabbed his pillow and hid his head underneath it, letting out a groan of frustration.

Back at the institute, they had set Horatio up with his own room. For once he was going to be staying in one place for the foreseeable future-at least until he could figure out how to start playing with the timeline again. Trouble being, he didn't seem to be adjusting to it very well. He hadn't left his room since he got there.

"He's not a people person." Victoria explained over dinner, when the Time Reaper did not come down for food. "Nor does he stay around long enough to-"
"Sounds like Logan." Polly pipped in.
"Make friends..." Victoria finished her sentence, grabbing one of the last buns.

Celeste nibbled on her bun, zoned out.
Ciara put a hand on hers, "Are you ok?" She whispered as the rest of the gang talked and ate merrily around the long oval table.
"Hm? Yeah, I'm just... A lot has happened the last couple of days. It's all just-"
"Sinking in?" Ciara asked to which Celeste nodded.
"I thought everything was great and then-" She stood up, "May I be excused?" She asked.

Xavier looked to Celeste and nodded, "of course" though the telepath rarely missed a thing and he looked at her with a bit of concern.

"Where is Logan?" Scott wondered at the mention of the man.

"He said somesing about Japan" Kurt shrugged, "maybe he is going back?"

"He remembered something from his past, that's probably what he's doing..." Celeste said walking out of the room, not looking at anyone.

"...Is she-" Polly leaned into Victoria.
"Let her be for now. She's been through a lot." Victoria said, pushing Polly back down in her seat. "Ciara, could you do me a favor and take a plate up to Horatio? I don't think he's eaten today."

Ciara nodded, "Sure thing."

Horatio had wasted no time (lawl) in trying to work out his little issue. His room had become a maze of writing and string connecting the piece of paper across most of one wall. The writing however was in a very strange language and dotted with puncture holes in the paper that probably meant different things to the blind man. Currently he was sitting, cross legged on the floor in front of the mural as though in meditation.

Knock knock knock

"Horatio?" called a familiar voice. "Would you like to have some dinner?"

((Now picture that as do you wanna build a snowman :p))

Not that he'd been moving much before, but Horatio froze. He would know that voice anywhere, across a thousand galaxies and dimensions and even now it made his heart skip a beat. He rested his hands on his knees ~don't let her in~ he thought to himself, ~I'm not ready~ his fingers curled into fists as he took several controlled breaths to try and remain calm.

((Don't let them in, don't let them see *sing a ling*))

After a moment, Ciara set the tray down and leaned against the door, crossing her legs, "The first night here can be scary. The floors creak, the windows raddle and there's so much chatter and movement of feet, it can make you feel like you're in a mad house....

No one expects you to be cheery or one of the guys. Everyone here took time adjusting to it so we all know what it's like to start out here...

Everyone here is so supportive and even though we're not blood related, it's like one big family. Though some days I swear Scott is like a mother hen protecting her chicks." She chuckled before clearing her throat, "What I'm trying to say is this is a great place where you can be yourself and if that means you need to be alone for awhile then that's ok...."

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick-stop. The clock froze and the rest of the world followed. Horatio stood slowly, opening his now golden eyes and taking a look at the collage before him. There was a lot to figure out, to know exactly where this present stood in the midst of things, but there was time for that later.

The Time Reaper walked over and opened the door, looking down at Ciara he stepped over her and sat in front of her in the hallway. "There's never enough time" he spoke gently to her frozen form, "but when I think I've got it... when the time finally seems right... it's so hard to step forward. Every time I do it, it gets harder." he stared at her, "are you going to break my heart again? If I'm stuck here forever... am I going to have to watch you fall for someone else again? Maybe that first time was a fluke" his eyes lowered to the floor, "maybe the cost of your life, is to live it without me. Or maybe I'm just too scared to let you in for real. I've gotten used to saying goodbye." he knelt forward and gently pressed his forhead against her, "show me, Ciara McHale... show me how to find you" he begged before giving her a soft kiss and getting back to his feet. He took the tray of food inside and closed the door again, releasing the flow of time as he sat back down on the floor.

"And-" Ciara didn't move for awhile. "Did...Did you stop time?" She asked, putting a hand to her lips, one second she was talking and the next her lips felt... and the tray was gone. "I guess you're not up for company but I'm gonna stay here for awhile ok?" She said warmly.

~Okay~ Horatio thought in response. He just couldn't seem to find his voice to actually, really, talk to her. But he was glad she was staying nearby. It was a start, however small.

Ciara spent a couple hours there, doing her homework before she said good-night and started her bedtime routine.

Horatio remained silent over the next couple weeks, though on occasion a flower would show up on Ciara's night table for her. Whenever she decided to keep him company in the hallway, he found himself sitting just on the other side of the door. By now the maze of information had spread out from the wall and zigzagged across the room like a spider web.

One night after school, Victoria burst through the door or at least attempted to as he'd placed a dresser partly in front of the door as most of the bedrooms did not have.

"Hor- Really?" She called slowly pushing the door open and then closed again. She'd been visiting him, giving him someone to talk to, to brain storm to bounce ideas off of.

"I think I found what he was trying to change." She holding a photo in her hand.

You could barely walk through the room with all the string flowing everywhere. They were different colours but none of them seemed to be in any consistent sense because Horatio had them organized by feel. Some braided some wound, some thick or thin or course or smooth depending on where they lead. The only place that had any room was in the dead center of the storm where Horatio sat.
"What is it?" he questioned as he braided together more threads.

"June gave me a photo." She said working her way to Horatio, "Stop time and look at these... Tell me if this is the circle you saw when Celeste was taken." The photo was that of a the sidewalk with a burnt circle, the same circle as before.

Horatio held out his hand for the pictures and as she gave them to him he brought her into the time stop with him. He took a look at the photos before nodding, "That's it" he confirmed, taking one of them and making his way over to a section of the maze to put it up. He also poked three holes in the top right corner to mark it for when he couldn't see.

Vesta pulled her soul book out and flipped through it, "I think I've worked out part of his plan in my head... That photo was taken outside the brotherhood house. Which means he set her there... In the last time line, she fall in love with Quick Silver didn't she?" She asked, looking at a rather brief note she'd made about it. She'd only learn of this through Rogue's memories. Hence the brief note.

Horatio paused, "yes... the last two times. The first time was disastrous. The second they had two children together, as well as a third that pietro had fathered elsewhere." He stared at the picture on the wall. "It was one of the few times she ended up happy..." he always second guessed himself on times like that. Should be nor have just let her be happy? Perhaps. But that pit of burning jealousy filled his heart and the loss wounded his soul to the point of breaking so he always moved on. It was either that or give up and die.

She put a hand on his shoulder, "I talked to June and it would seem that Celeste has a crush on Pietro. Which also explains her mood swings lately... He knew she'd fall for him." she said sighing.

"What?" He turned sharply to face her, "so this man. He is... helping me?"

"You really don't remember him do you?" She said before sighing, "From what I remember he never did like True Father. I don't know what his end plan is but yes, it would appear he is trying to help you."