In the short time she had known him, Eden had expected her questions to be answered with some snarky retort or not at all, but he surprised her even more than he had with the power display yesterday. She had never heard of Elysium Labs but there were always a rumors going around that the Authority tested on Specials. Still the organization Rick described… Her mind drifted off to Wren’s thoughts – so kind and innocent, caught up in the moment having a semblance of a life that didn’t involve non-stop violence.

She had been about to respond when suddenly she felt Rick’s mind – more open and free than she had been able to see yet. He had willingly let her in. Taking step back she leaned against the opposite side of the door frame and slid to the floor, sitting just across from him. She could feel the pain behind his story, the despair he felt and the desire to never let them win again. Though she kept her face stoic, the emotions in his story were almost crippling, especially when she imagined Wren in that sort of situation. Her heart ached for him. Then came his revenge – and she could see it through his eyes, the memories of the destruction, the satisfaction of decimating his tormentors. She had been impressed with his prowess under pressure yesterday but it was now clear where his motivation to be the best came from. At the very least she understood why he would be work against the Authority and the common ground gave her more of a basis of trust than his sacrifice had.

When he turned the question back on her, Eden knew she had to answer. He had been so forthcoming – more than she had ever expected from him. Her story wasn’t like his – but more resembling that of any Special that lost their use to the Authority. Sure she was on a list somewhere, but it wasn’t until she had found and stolen Wren that she became part of public enemy number one. Glancing over at Finn, she knew he was still out cold, completely unaware of their conversation; Wren to was completely occupied. With a sigh, Eden met Rick’s gaze head on, smirking a little as she remembered.

“Initially I was part of a program that was training Seers to be spies – sent into the rebel camps to report back if there was any attempt at the rebels actually assembling an attack. I defected my first day out,” she started slowly. “The Authority are surprisingly confident when it comes to their Specials – they literally don’t expect resistance and in that, they are remarkably careless with their information, even around seers.” Eden smiled darkly, remembering just how stupid she had found them all to be. “Being the acerbic sort of person that I am – I’m not one to fall in line without questions. The Authority always tries to spout that they’re in it to protect and rescue those in the Nothing – but its all propaganda. All of the missions were annihilation based; they couldn’t have those kind of ideas floating through the camps…” She clenched her hands angrily, before looking hard at Rick. “They were just going to use us as landmines.”

“At any rate, I fell in with a rebel group not long after that, having made sure that the Authority no longer had any way to track me. It took a while they didn’t want to trust me…and who could blame them…” she continued, her chest tightening a little. She didn’t really like this part of the story – the memories still making her feel like a fool. Still, it wouldn’t be fair for her to hold back. “There was this guy…Grey…he was in the ‘leaders’ circle’ and pretty much smoothed everything out for me. After sometime I proved loyal and worth having around so things got better.” Eden wasn’t looking at Rick anymore, her expression lost in memories. “I became…complacent? Something like that – I didn’t see Grey’s growing malcontent with the rebels’ way of life. He started becoming secretive…till one day…” Eden stopped again, emotions unreadable, before she looked directly at Rick. “Grey used me to get standing within the Authority. Since I had been a defector I was on a ‘list’ – it was worth something to them to get me back. So it was a trade – a new life of comfort for him and certain imprisonment for me.” Eden paused again, chewing on the inside of her cheek. The thought of Grey still made her feel incompetent…which is probably why she so overcompensated with being such a bitch now. She lost track of time for a moment before realizing she’d been out of it. Take a deep breath and shaking her head, she smiled almost sheepishly.

“It all worked out in the end for me though,” she continued as though that hadn’t been awkward. “They took me to the Rialto prison compound from there and that’s where I found Wren. They were trying to find some way to use her but failing miserably. I caught wind of three other seers making an escape plan and wormed my way in – the deal being that I would bring Wren and we would splinter as soon as we were clear. The plan worked to escape, but they honed in on Wren and I pretty fast. I took a bullet –“ Eden pulled back the right edge of her shirt so Rick could see the still healing wound. “Wren took out the rest and we managed to get to safety. Bad luck of it was this wasn’t a through and through and Wren hardly had the capacity to play nurse. If Finn hadn’t found us when he did…” She looked begrudgingly at Finn who honestly looked ridiculous at the moment – mouth open, practically drooling. “At any rate there you have it….” She finished with a flourishing smile, before looking at him seriously again.

“You seem to know who’s after us better than anyone – are we going to be safe here a while for you to heal?” she asked, her eyes zeroing in on his arms. She had felt the pain beneath his thoughts and knew he was in a lot of discomfort. Belatedly she realized that having to carry her yesterday had done him no favors either.