Las Vegas, Sunday Afternoon

[izzyalienqueen]

The unfortunate thing about life after Fandom was that it required a job that didn't give you time off for weirdness or the potential apocalypse. Isabel had managed to get through her shift on Saturday although she'd grown progressively more on edge as the evening wore on and she realized the number of staff people that weren't around when they were supposed to be.

With Wyatt in San Francisco checking the Book of Shadows, sleep wasn't really an option once Isabel got home. Instead she spent most of the night texting Wyatt and Parker like some sort of crazed stalker just to be sure they were still around. Isabel was definitely not thinking about what she would do if one of them stopped responding.

At some point she did finally doze off for a few hours of restless sleep, only to be woken by her alarm reminding her that crisis or not, there was a job to go to.

Cranky and clutching her coffee, Isabel left her car at the parking lot she used and walked towards the Vegas Strip, only to stop dead at the sight before her. Instead of several acres of buildings housing a casio, shopping and hotel towers, there was only blackness. A blackness it seemed only she could see judging by the tourists that brushed past her without a care in the world.

Things were getting serious. Pulling out her phone, Isabel left a few messages for some people. After another incredulous look at where the casino used to be, she headed home to wait.

[For phone calls, visits, etc...]

Comments

[blessed_twice]

Wyatt orbed in in a panic. After checking the Book of Shadows, he'd called Chris to see if he'd noticed anything weird going on. Tried to call, that is. His number had been answered by a woman who swore she'd had the number for years. A call to Summer wasn't any better -- that number went to a bank.

Calling his grandfather had gotten him the person he expected, much to his relief, but when he asked if he'd seen Chris, Victor Bennett had no idea who he was talking about. He'd summoned Grams next, and she didn't know who Chris was, either. "Wyatt, you've always been an only child," she said, concerned about his apparent delusion. He didn't want her telling the Elders he was going insane so he tried to brush it off as being over-tired.

He'd been on the verge of tearing San Francisco apart to find the demons responsible for this when he'd gotten Isabel's call. That snapped him to his senses long enough to orb back to Las Vegas, but one look and Isabel could probably tell he was about to lose it.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Four years and multiple crises (even if things had been pretty quiet since they'd left Fandom) meant that Isabel was pretty attuned to Wyatt's moods. So yes, one look and she was on her feet reaching for him.

"Who?"

[blessed_twice]

"Chris," he managed to get out, clinging to her like his life depended on it. "Grandpa Victor has no idea who he is. Summer, too, I think."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She was doing some clinging of her own, trying to process the idea that yet more people she cared about were missing. "We'll get them back. I promise." How, Isabel had no idea. But she had to believe they would, otherwise she wasn't sure how either of them would cope.

[blessed_twice]

He was trying to hold on to that thought. Trying. "Yeah," he said dully. "We always do, don't we?"

Losing it wouldn't help. Losing it would be bad. Had to keep it together.

"You find out anything useful?" he said. "The Book of Shadows didn't have much that seemed helpful."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"We do," Isabel reminded him, rubbing a soothing hand his back. "I'm living proof. Remember that."

But keeping Wyatt from going all powerful in a quest for answers was added right at the top of the list of things she was worrying about the moment.

"No. Not really. But it seems to be getting worse."

[blessed_twice]

He had sprouted any bad facial hair, so things seemed all right. For the moment.

"What do you mean?" he asked after taking a deep breath to steady himself. "What was the weirdness in your message?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Taking Wyatt's hand in hers, Isabel led the way over to the patio doors that led to the apartment's small balcony. The view wasn't the best but most times you could see the hotel towers of her job above the other buildings. This afternoon, not so much. Instead a smudge of blackness marked the air. "Can you see that? That blackness?"

[blessed_twice]

"What the hell?" Wyatt said, staring at the place the hotel towers used to be. "They're just...gone? Why aren't people freaking out?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Apocalyptic scenarios weren't exactly a novelty for anyone living at the Hyperion, but that didn't stop Anders from grabbing his phone and calling Isabel back as soon as he'd gotten her message.

And drumming his fingers impatiently against the wall he was leaning against while the phone rang.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Since her phone wasn't leaving her side, Isabel answered it pretty much instantaneously. "Thank god you're okay."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

That wasn't promising. "I'm fine," he answered, keeping his voice steady for her sake. "Doesn't sound like you are, though. Talk to me. What's going on?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Short version? Multi-dimensional weirdness," she replied. "Longer version? People and places are going missing and no one really seems to be noticing. Chris has disappeared and his grandfather has never heard of him. He thinks Wyatt's an only child. Needless to say Wyatt's a wreck. Similar stuff is going on with my family."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders sucked in a sharp breath. "By the gods," he muttered. "His world and yours? They're just gone?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Gone. Completely. It's like that whole chaos theory about the butterfly in Japan flapping its wings and causing a hurricane in Florida. Max never met Liz so we didn't have to deal with all the alien stuff. The last six years of my life have been completely re-written at least according to my family in Roswell." Yes, Isabel was just a little freaked out by that.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders whistled and closed his eyes for a moment, processing that: he'd thought something like chaos theory would be more difficult for a jumped-up jock, but . . . it made sense somehow. All clicked in his head with an ease that ought to be surprising.

Not that he was focusing on that right now, with more immediate concerns to deal with.

"Frakking hell. Nobody remembers but you? And Wyatt's the only one who remembers Chris?" A pause, a loaded one, and then he whistled. "Big sis, I don't like where this sounds like it's going."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I do. So do you. And Parker and Ronan, they remember my sister-in-law. So it seems like Fandom people aren't being affected." Which kind of scared her in a way. "I'm sort of half hoping that it's just some island weirdness and that it'll all be okay in the morning. But I don't think that's going to happen."

"I don't like it either. Because it's not just people now. My job is gone. There's just this big black expanse of nothing on the spot where the hotel used to be."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"What happened?" Parker asked as soon as Isabel picked up. "Also, Kamchatka is gone. Make of that what you will."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel would see that bet and double it.

"I'm no longer employed because my job is a big gaping spot of blackness on the Las Vegas strip!"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"It's a what?" Parker asked, dumbfounded. "How is that even possible?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"No clue. It's not just there though. I noticed a few other smaller buildings that were missing on the ride home."

Isabel glanced towards the couch where Wyatt had finally fallen into an uneasy sleep. "But I've got bigger problems now."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"What's worse than parts of your city disappearing?" Parker demanded. "And by the way, the Azores."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Chris and Summer disappearing at some point in the last twenty-four hours." Parker was smart, she'd be able to figure out it. "Wyatt's a wreck."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Oh my God." It was spreading. To people they both new. Chris. Parker leaned forward, head in her hands. "I'm so sorry. Has anyone else you know gone missing?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel nodded, remembering the night before. "Just what I told you in all those handwavey texts. Some of the wait staff, a bartender, some of the cleaning crew."

"Ronan says we should get to the island."