Epilogue

Ed Lane let himself sink down in the empty locker room, grateful to be alone. In the end, Greg and his kids hadn't been at the picnic, but then, considering he'd had to half carry his boss into the apartment with a visibly tired Alanna trailing behind him like a duckling… Yeah, not too shabby of an excuse for missing the picnic.

Greg had been out like a light as soon as he poured the other man into bed; he'd given Alanna an arched brow, honestly confused as to why both of them were so exhausted. She'd huffed, then explained, "Uncle Greg…well…he's still a Squib-born even if he likes pushing his limits every other day."

Ed snickered.

A touch of thoughtfulness entered tired violet eyes. "Me…" A quiet sigh. "I think I strained my core when I took on that Fiendfyre."

The team leader shuddered even as he went on alert. "You're still recovering from that?"

Red hair bobbed in affirmation and Ed realized that it was yet another reminder that for all of Wild Magic's power and advantages, its users could still push themselves to their limits and pay for it, just like everybody else. Much as part of him wanted to believe otherwise, Wild Mages weren't invincible superheroes any more than they were the irredeemable villains the magical world liked to paint them as.

Pushing aside that bleak reminder, the sniper ushered Alanna into bed and tucked her in, waiting until she was asleep before leaving her room and closing the door quietly. Once done with that, he'd taken the opportunity to go through Greg's apartment and remove his boss's backup weapon. As close as Greg was to the edge, he did not need access to weapons while off-duty. Ed hated that it had come to that, resented that the magic had hidden the truth until Greg had been halfway off the cliff.

Sadly, he couldn't change the past, but he could – and darn well would – change how things worked going forward. And first on the agenda was finally getting a good idea of how the 'team sense' worked and what effects it had on them. Part of him wanted to ask the kids, but… Ed frowned thoughtfully. The kids had Wild Magic, too, and one thing Greg had mumbled somewhere between the fire hall and the apartment had been something about Alanna's Wild Magic.

Was it possible that Alanna's magic had forced her to intervene? Sure, the kids had intervened before, but only when a member of their 'family' was on the line. This time? Total stranger, so why had Alanna shown up? The theory seemed insane, except… Ed knew Greg's magic had already pushed him into a number of risky situations. Precedent, even if Alanna was a full Wild Mage and Greg was not.

The lean man pushed himself upright, pacing back and forth. So…asking the kids was right out. Roy and Giles didn't know about the 'team sense'… He froze. Revan. Revan had Wild Magic and seemed to know something was up with Team One. Even if the former Unspeakable couldn't tell him about the 'team sense' directly, he could at least give Ed more information on Wild Magic.

It made sense, after all. Wild Magic was powerful, but power like that usually came with downsides. If they could figure out those downsides, then maybe they could mitigate them. Maybe they could reverse the damage from the tainted magic. And maybe pigs could fly and hell could freeze over.

Discouragement crept in; as deeply enmeshed as they were, it was entirely possible that each and every one of them was inextricably trapped. The constable looked down at his hands, flexing the fingers. Free will. Practically an afterthought, something he took for granted, like oxygen and blood. Until he'd found out that he'd surrendered that free will, given it away without thinking and forced his best friend to bear the burden.

An idea sparked. Greg couldn't break the 'team sense' and his own decision…it was permanent, it couldn't be altered, but… He lifted his head, clenching his fists. "You never told us what we'd do to him," he hissed at the ceiling. "You gave us a choice, but You told him that he had to just suck it up; how is that fair?"

"You believe I have acted unjustly?"

Ed whipped around, eyes widening. The Lion stood there, wisdom gleaming in amber eyes; wisdom and power far above anything humanity could boast. His knees trembled, but he forced the words out any way. "I thought You gave him a choice, too. I thought he said yes, that he wanted the 'team sense'."

The great head inclined. "My Father has many plans, Son of Adam, and all work together for the good of those who love Him."

What kind of answer was that? "How the heck is this supposed to be for good?"

Amber narrowed and Ed swallowed hard. Great…him and his big mouth… The Lion padded forward, right up to the lean constable; Ed struggled to hold still, to keep from breaking and running.

"Do not fear, Son of Adam," the Lion rumbled, nudging his chest. "You spoke honestly and I will not fault that. Wait on Me and I will answer."

"I don't even believe in You."

Amusement shone and the Lion nudged him again. "Fortunate, then, Son of Adam, that I believe in you."

Before Ed could find anything else to say, Aslan was gone.

But in the Lion's wake, Ed felt a new emotion, one he hadn't felt all day and perhaps not for a very long time before that.

Hope.

~ Fin


Author note: The end, for now. Now, then, I realize that this is rather different from canon Flashpoint. After all, in canon Flashpoint, Greg was all better at the end of this episode, or at least, ready for another ten rounds. To that I say, piffle. You don't get over hitting the end of your rope and struggling with emotional issues that quickly. You don't get over depression and not trusting yourself that quickly.

That said, Greg did hit a turning point in this story and while there may be a few backslides along the way, he really only has one way to go at this point. Up.

As always, I do enjoy each and every review left on my stories, so I encourage all of you to spare a few minutes, drop me a line, and I promise to get back to all reviewers who sign in. Also, if you want to ask me a question, please take the time to sign in so I can respond to you. Unfortunately, while guests can certainly leave reviews, I can only respond to reviews from signed in users.

Moving on, we'll be charging full speed into the next story. As a side note for those who try to match my stories to the canon timeline, we are actually going to be in a space between Seasons 4 and 5. Believe me, when we get to Season 5, you will know, but it won't be the next story. All of that said, I was originally going to stick most religiously to my schedule, but I fear my glee for the next story has overwhelmed my patience. So we'll be starting "Face/Off" right here in the main Flashpoint archive today (Tuesday, October 13th 2020) in the afternoon/evening hours.

And now an update from Ace Data Recovery as of last Friday, minus any names: "Just updating you on your case which is still in progress. The engineer is currently imaging the drive. When the drive is done reading, the case will be passed on to the next step in the recovery process, which is Data Processing (DP)"

I sent an email back, asking if they can confirm the presence of three very precious folders (one is titled My Fanfiction, so you can guess what's in there...) once the drive reaches Data Processing, but probably won't get an update until Monday at the earliest. If I do, I will update this note prior to posting.

See You on the Battlefield!