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

[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."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Sonofabitch," Anders muttered. Yeah, he definitely didn't like where this was going. "Might not be a wild guess to say that Fandom strikes again."

He didn't mean to blame the island, exactly; he hoped she knew what he meant.

"I'm not liking that, Isabel. Maybe you better not stay."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm not planning on it. But we have to deal with our families first. We can't just leave them behind." If was just going to get a little complicated, trying to explain magic and aliens and oh, by the way, the world seems to be ending.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"There's that," Anders conceded, sounding a little guilty about forgetting; not like he ever really thought about having a family to worry about, himself. Not beyond his adopted one. "Can't just pack 'em up and explain afterward, can you?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

No need to feel guilty. His family that mattered was right there with him. "The thought has crossed my mind. And if I have to, I might. But I'll deal with it when and if I have to."

"None of this has been happening in your little corner of the multiverse? All the Hyperion residents are accounted for?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Far as I'm aware, so far," Anders answered slowly. His player is vague on details at the moment. "Be keepin' an eye out now, though, but I gotta know you're going to be safe."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to do my best." It was all she could promise given how random people seemed to be disappearing. "Maybe you should talk to everyone and see about coming to the island, even if it's not happening by you. We could probably use the extra brain power."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders chuckled. "That'd be the others more than me. I'll see what I can do. You better keep me posted on how you're doing though, got it?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Texts on a regular basis. You have a five minute window to respond before I start panicking." You wouldn't want to make her panic would you Anders?

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Yes m--" Anders considered the possibility of leaving his phone in the fridge like he tended to do more often than he'd admit. "Aw, c'mon, a little more leeway? You know we can't text and drive out here any more."

Not that he drove, but shh.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"You don't drive." She'd heard him complain about the bus schedule often enough.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"As far as you know," Anders retorted, but mildly. "Promise I'll keep in touch as much as I can, though."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"That's all I can ask." All anybody could ask at this point. "I'll talk to you soon okay?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"You will," Anders said firmly. "Promise."

Maybe he shouldn't, but . . .

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm holding you to that. Bye..."

Ever so reluctantly, Isabel hung up the phone.