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I do, of course. How can I help, Hiro?

This is going to sound really weird and probably kind of crazy but I've shadow-traveled pretty much everywhere I could think of since I landed back here...which was kinda hard since the world's bigger now and I checked my locket and maybe the thing's messed up, I don't know-- --have you seen Nico? Is he back yet?

Nico? He must be, of course, just one second -

[ And she checks. She checks everywhere. Haven, the Harbourage, Amber and wherever she can think of, she uses tracking spells and asks Galan and Godric to look for him, everything that comes to mind, even a desperate attempt to close her eyes and think of him to apparate to his side and nothing works. She's distraught, and all she can do when she finds her way back home is stare at her locket, her compass, shaking with wide eyes and a rushing, broken heart. ]

He's gone.

[And while she was checking he never stopped moving either. His travel was much more limited than hers but he does everything he can, even resorting to calling out for Clifford in the hopes that the hellhound would hear him in the middle of the woods. But there's nothing. He's almost too hopeful when he hears the locket chime again with another message until he reads those words.

"He's gone."

Gone. Gone as in not here, gone as in he can't see him now, gone as in...well. Ironic, isn't it. The war's over, things are resettling, and the one time he thinks he could probably see him without the risk of both of them getting killed and the guy's gone. He doesn't respond for a minute.]

That doesn't make any sense. He can't be gone, he's been here WAY too long to just not come back. Where would he go? Why wouldn't they bring him back? [It's easier to blame everyone else in this world than think that Nico made the choice to stay behind. Hiro had faced that choice when he went back to San Fransokyo, but he knew that time would be suspended again and he had to come back here to help. Nico...was back to wandering somewhere in America, probably. Alone. And bitter. And sad and angry and unloved and it really isn't fair.]

There's gotta be somewhere else we can look for him.

[ She is doing everything. Her magic is useless, her powers aren't doing anything and all of her desperation seems to be leading her in circles. Even speaking to people of this world doesn't give her any results; none of them have heard even a lick of Hiro or the known lady's younger brother, in title and deed if not blood and name - and she breaks. She has no idea what to do and for the first time in a long time Hermione stands, no path before her because there's nothing she can do.

She can't bring Hiro back. She doesn't have that power, and there are no monarchs she can ask. ]

It can happen to any of us. At any time. We never get to choose, not really, not when we have a shard and have the connection to our world. They might send us back or our connection will draw us on or something like that. Hiro... He went home. He had to have. I don't know why I don't understand but he's home, he has to be.

[ Because he can't be trapped somewhere else. If he is then Hermione will tear all the worlds apart finding him and bringing him home - to whichever home he chose. ]

There's no sign of him. I've done everything and I tried everything and there's nothing else I can do. Nothing has worked, no magic or trying or my runes.

[It's bullshit, he decides. It's absolute bullshit that he's done everything (well, almost everything) the monarchs had wanted and that he'd fought and he'd fixed and he'd tried everything and still failed to hold on to the important pieces of this world. Jason had disappeared without warning (which...is a whole other issue in and of itself), Merida had died, Clarke had died and maybe that was why he refused to just believe that Nico wouldn't come back.

But, oddly enough, he trusts Hermione. He knows how important the boy was to her as well and he knew that the pair of them saw each other as siblings. It's not easy on her. He can't imagine it would be (and knowing first-hand? Losing a sibling is horrific and something he still wouldn't wish on anybody.)

It's hard to accept it and so he doesn't. But she doesn't need to know that he's also falling apart, too, as that reality sinks in.]

...thank you for looking and trying. [What a dumb thing to thank her for. Of course she would have looked.] Sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't know why but when he comes back we'll find him before anyone else does. [Nico has to come back someday, doesn't he? It doesn't make sense.]

Are you going to be okay? [Despite his own feelings on this, that's also important. He mostly needs to be sure that either she'll be okay, or she'll find someone to help her be okay.]

[ All of this is the worst thing that she could have imagined and Hermione feels sick to her stomach. Her relief at knowing so many of her friends were still here around her had been completely ripped away and in it's place was a kind of desolation that words couldn't begin to describe. It hurts, and it aches, desperately inside of her, and all she wants to do is break down and cry, to let herself curl up and sob until there's nothing else left inside of her and she can fall apart and put herself back together again and again.

She can't, though. Once upon a time, weeks ago, she was a Marchioness. She might have something the same in this world, but who can tell? What is she going to do? What can she do? She has to be strong, she has to be proud, and if that means forcing herself to be stitched together and put on a fake smile then she's going to do it without hesitation.

There's no other option, really, is there? She can't travel to another world and find Nico; she doesn't have that kind of power. ]

Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry that he's gone, that there's nothing we can do. [ She feels sick to her stomach and there's no way to make it go away. ] I'll know as soon as he's back. I'll make sure you know as well.

Eventually. Not right now, but... Soon.

[There's nothing left to say. He already has a plan now to go and keep searching despite what she says but he knows she's right. There's nothing that can be done. And there's nothing he can really do to help her now when he's not sure how to help himself. So...that's the end of it, then.]

I'd really appreciate it. And I know it probably doesn't mean a lot but...if you need anything, I guess these things work now. Take care of yourself, Hermione.

[Maybe it's rude to cut the conversation so suddenly, but he can't really deal with anything else at the moment. He needs to come to terms with what he's just learned and so with that, he disconnects the feed.]

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