After lunch. Waiting Room of Solomon Carstairs' Office.


Virgil knocked on the door, not waiting for a response as he slipped into the room with one hand in his pocket. He was wearing a black sweatshirt over matching wool trousers - his silver Unspeakable badge looked stark against the outfit, almost as great a contrast as his pale colouring. He had just come from what could kindly be described as a disagreement with Yavin.

"Unicorn girl," he smiled as his eyes swept the room and took in what must be Ministry's entire stock of festive spirit. "You've outdone yourself. Solomon must be seeing candy canes behind his eyes."

Christmas was one of the few holidays that he knew his distant cousin actually enjoyed but Abby's knack for decor might be too much even for him. Virgil liked it immensely, of course.

It was the day before her and Iona's appointment with level nine. Although he knew that it was a big deal for them, he had been in and out of the Death Chamber almost every work day since the start of the month. He was tasked with observing and assisting the exorcisms of other pentrals. Tomorrow, if Flower Girl let them, would be just another day for the Unspeakables in that room. With some alterations if he had anything to say about it.

"How are we today?" Virgil approached the colourful desk, glancing down at its portents.

He still didn't trust Iona to let go. She might change her mind, she might make it painful for Abby. Even after reading Solomon's report of his interview with her, Virgil had.... doubts. Not as many as before, though. For one thing he found that he felt sympathy for Iona, which led him to conclude that maybe the McBoids were not all terrible and it was just Moira who sullied their good name.

Though Abby had indeed left the office at a reasonable hour yesterday, gone home, eaten something, talked to Raine, gotten some sleep, and come back in the morning, she felt like she'd never left. Time felt suspended. Her fateful appointment on Level Nine drew nearer and nearer.

Sometime after lunch, she'd started organizing files for the Grimshaw investigation, and hadn't gotten very far with it when she heard the knock on the door.

Nemo?

She shook her head even as the door opened. Not Nemo, of course not Nemo. Another blond friend. Virgil.

The corners of her mouth lifted in a slight, but genuine smile.

"Lost boy," Abby glanced over his outfit. He looked paler dressed in black, his silver badge the only thing that matched the sparkly holiday decor.

"You've found the place where glitter and manufactured joy was born," she gestured around her desk.

Solomon Carstairs hadn't made any comment against it and she sort of loved him for it. When all this was over she would have to gift him a bottle of (goji berry) whiskey.

Abby picked up one of the snow globes on her desk, shook it, and set it down.

"Let's ask the orb. How are we? Whoa, flurries of thought! A little distracted. Look at that cold front coming in. Brr. Watch your step, find your ice skates, the streets are frozen over and surprise, the snow is settling again. Almost like we're frozen in time."

Damn, she had no jokes today.

“I feel like I haven't moved from this seat since Monday," Abby cut the bullshit. He'd come to visit her for a reason, after all. "You?”

It seemed a long while since he had last seen Abby - they were both often busy and life went on outside of what was happening between her and level nine. The wizarding world continued its many routines, the Ministry rose to meet with the challenges of the winter. Virgil watched her as she shook the shimmering snow globe in an attempt to recreate the present rather than predict the future.

Frozen in time. Would they become unstuck, after tomorrow?

             "I feel like I haven't moved from this seat since Monday. You?”

Him? Nevermind him, thought the wizard, and he quietly made his way around the desk to lean over the little squib. Her thoughts and sentiments were all over the place, coming off in waves. Virgil placed his skinny long arms around her and pulled her into a hug, head against his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and focused on his own calmness, reaching for Abby's mind. Emanating as much of it as he could: a steady rock jutting out against the choppy sea. It always left him a little drained when he did this - which was why he didn't, often - but it felt like the right thing to do now.

Virgil released her gently after a few lazy seconds, still leaning forward to look his friend in the eye. "I'm alright," he answered in a conversational tone. "Wanted to see if you and flower girl would like to talk before tomorrow. But we don't have to do that right this moment if you don't want to."

Abby swiveled in her seat, raising her eyebrows. A hug! As his arms lightly encircled her, she hugged him back just as comfortably, for a moment not sure if he was hugging her because it looked like she needed one, or if he did, or both, but whatever the reason, she appreciated it. In the forest of her mind the wind calmed, the trees stilled, the path evened out, and she stopped running and caught her breath.

Next to her, the shadow of Iona caught her breath as well.

She looked into his calm eyes, finding empathy there. Tomorrow. Winter was here, tomorrow was coming. The shortest day of the year.

"Why not," Abby smiled. "I suddenly feel a lot better."

She had a guess as to why.

Abby rose to close the door to the office, and then took a seat in one of the visitor's chairs. Though she felt a twinge of unease even thinking about it, the feeling wasn't as bad as it could have been mere minutes ago.

"How much can you tell us about tomorrow, V?"

Or how much was wise?

While Abby went to close the door, Virgil stood in the centre of the room and held his wand upright before him. A small frown appeared between his pale eyebrows as he concentrated.

"Tacere mortis..." a dark blue light glowed at the tip of the wand and abruptly discharged itself around the room. "Tacere mortis," the young wizard repeated the quieting charm, an elaborate version of a regular muffling spell. Much harder to use but a favourite of ever-encrypted Unspeakables. There didn't seem any reason to use a third binding of it - they were only on level two - so he tucked the wand back behind his ear and went to join Abby in one of the waiting chairs.

            "How much can you tell us about tomorrow, V?"

"I can tell you the procedure," he answered, crossing his legs, "What will happen, who will be there. And I can show you what the Death Chamber looks like, just so you know what to expect before going in." Virgil tapped his forehead but didn't attempt to convey the image just yet.

Some people didn't want to know. He interlaced his fingers over his top knee, gaze faltering for a moment. "We've exorcised many of the other pentrals and, for the most part, it's gone.... well. They've moved on."

He knew she was listening. Flower Girl. Would she move on? After reading Sol's report, it was easier to understand why she might not want to.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." Virgil lowered his voice, even though nobody else could hear them. "I wanted to ask Iona if she wants company. I mean, if she wants someone to follow her into Limbo - that's sort of a liminal space between this life and the next."

"Company," Abby repeated, her eyebrows spiking in skeptical surprise. Sounded like a dinner party! Was accompaniment to limbo part of the general procedure? Who would be there for the first part of it, or who was allowed, exactly? She'd have to remember to ask. She knew she wanted her sister nearby on Level Nine, and Sasha as well, if it wouldn't put too much strain on either of them.

"So you're saying someone would follow us - her, into," she paused, not often at a loss for words. "Limbo. To help her move on?"

Abby spoke slowly again, trying to phrase and think about it in the most positive way she could as Iona's thoughts sprang in her head, warring with her own. It had been going well, Virgil had said, by Level Nine's standards. Which meant freedom and loss for Abby and a final death and who knew what else for Iona.

"I'm more curious about what limbo looks like, than I am about the death chamber. If you tell me about the death chamber I might be too scared to visit," Abby admitted with a slight attempt at a smile, shifting in her chair. It might be better not to give herself too much information to worry about before tomorrow. The chamber wouldn't change whether she imagined horrible things or good things. It would stay the same.

But limbo?

"Is it true that limbo looks different for every person?" She tilted her head, the question coming from both of them.

            "So you're saying someone would...Limbo. To help her move on?"

He bit his lower lip, nodding once in affirmation and leaving out a crucial piece of the plan for now. Virgil had it all neatly laid out in his head: the proceedings, the spells, his own participation and eventual return. Looking at Abby though, he had to reminded himself that other people didn't live in his head of level nine. There were things she didn't know that he had to tell her.

"Um. Yes, Limbo is supposed to look different, depending on the person who is moving on. It manifests in the mindsc--" he caught himself using Legilimens terminology, "-- in your mind but also not in your mind, if that makes sense. A place in between the mind and what's beyond life."

The Unspeakables who worked in the Death Chamber were happy to talk to Virgil about it; the ones who had been to Limbo, they all had experienced different settings and situations. Vastly different emotions even. He played with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, looking down for a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Usually it's represented by a liminal space you already know. Like a train station or a hotel, a place you pass through on your way to somewhere else." Virgil wondered what his would look like but he didn't linger on the thought - he'd be seeing Iona's Limbo. "Sometimes you might meet people you know or love. From the Other Side."

Did Iona have someone she hoped to meet? If she did, he would try to leave as soon as he could when he got there. Wouldn't need him. Virgil lifted his gaze, meeting Abby in the eye. "I would be the one going, by the way. Into Limbo. You both know me and I have the necessary skills."

The only thing he lacked was experience.

It did make sense, limbo represented by a liminal space. Abby wondered what hers looked like. She was so dependent on the floo system and had only tried the Underground and transport by car a few times. Would she have to side-along apparate to her own liminal space?

Her mouth twitched. Despite the subject matter, it was a funny thought. But no, this was for Iona, if all went according to plan.

And Virgil was the one offering an arm.

Abby ducked her head and raised her eyebrows.

"By. the. way? That's a big deal. That's a huge deal. Isn't it? You wouldn't be saving us from a nightmare this time but traveling into someone else's limbo. Liminal space. Whatever. That seems like a big deal and you're sitting there very casually and cool like you do," she mimed his posture and flashed a quick grin.

She let her smile fade, struggling with surprise. Relief. Skepticism. Abby didn't doubt that he had the knowledge, and just hearing him offer to be there made her feel better. But it felt like a big deal. The biggest. Limbo with a capital L. It would hold scarier things than dreams ever did, because if they met someone there, that person would be real. Living, now dead.

Most of the people who Iona loved were still alive. Those who were dead, or might be dead, she couldn't even think about at the moment.

"How dangerous is it, to act as a guide?" For him, Abby thought but didn't say. For all of them, Iona wondered.

Virgil ducked his head, laughing fondly at her reaction. He really did love Abby Reid - with her easy bluntness and cute witticisms, even at a time like this. Level two was a difficult place to work but she had managed to stay true to herself despite having to share her brain with another (significantly less upbeat) soul.

             "How dangerous is it, to act as a guide?"

To lie or not to lie, that is the question. He uncrossed his legs and sat forward at an angle so that he was better facing her. Lying was probably a bad place to begin something that required earnest efforts, right? And he'd gotten permission to share this info, too.

"Two of the five Unspeakables who have done it in the last few years they, um. They haven't returned." Virgil spoke slowly, making himself look at Abby in the eye because he didn't want her to think he was afraid of these odds. "So.... a big deal, I suppose. But they were the first two of an initiative, we have better methodology and an idea of what to face now."

All this wasn't, he reasoned, about him. Virgil wanted to make it sound like they weren't groping in the dark. He reached out and took Abby's hand, squeezing it. Iona's hand too, really.

"Don't worry about me. I'm low-risk," his smile was crooked but sweet, "and I can do it. If it makes it easier for Flower Girl, let me do this for you both."

The easier it was for the other soul to leave - the more Iona could bear to leave - the less painful the exorcism. This was Virgil's reasoning and he was ready to do whatever it took after seeing how entrenched the two minds were. It would be like trying to extricate roots that have grown into the soil together.

A rare expression of total seriousness settled onto Abby's face as Virgil revealed that the first two out of five Unspeakables hadn't returned from their trip to limbo. He explained further, but it felt like a cold stone of dread rolling in her stomach. It took her a moment to register his hand over hers. Still, she held onto his fingers lightly.

Merin's balls! How could she..? How could he..?

What if something went wrong and she took him down to death's door with her? So much could go wrong.

Her first instinct was to say no. No way. He wasn't going to take any risk at all for her, for them. He'd stay nice and relatively safe in Level Nine's bubble.

Abby glanced down at his hand, clasping hers.

She thought back to Yavin meeting her on the path in the forest of her mind palace, and telling her that people hurt people all the time to survive. He'd phrased it better. It had made sense then. She just didn't want Virgil to get hurt because of her. Hadn't she done enough damage? She'd unknowingly let the pentrals out at the lakehouse and lived to see another day at the expense of others.

As the seconds ticked by, she thought back to Sasha saying how relieved and grateful he was that she had escaped. Even though people had gotten hurt.

Then there was Iona. Iona, resigning herself to passing on so that Abby could live.

If the trip to limbo tomorrow failed horribly, everything she'd done in these past few months would have no meaning. Those who had lost their lives or suffered harm due to the pentrals and dementors, no meaning. Those who had made such an effort with her, to help her. Sasha. Her sister. Nemo. Raine. Solomon. Yavin. Virgil. So many.

It would hurt all of the people she cared about very, very much if something were to go wrong because she hadn't done everything she could to make it go right.

Abby swallowed.

Iona?

A calmer, yet more intent look flickered on Abby's face, and her gaze was as direct and unwavering as ever. When she next spoke, it was with Iona's voice.

"We've no doubt you can do it. You've done it before?" Iona asked bluntly.

He had never really thought about the ticking of the clock in Solomon's waiting room - but now, in the silence he was giving Abby to mull over his proposal, it was difficult to ignore. Tick - tock, tick - tock, tick - tock.... the clicking seemed to drone on for eternity, with no way to delay or speed it up. Unless you were working in the Time Room on level nine, because that's what they tried to do in Mysteries. They tried to do the impossible.

            "We've no doubt you can do it. You've done it before?"

This wasn't Abby speaking. His eyes darted to meet hers, clocking the change in demeanour and voice. He knew her name now: Iona McBoid.

"I've performed all the steps individually, save for the part where they -" the part where they temporarily kill him, "- where they put me under so that my soul can join yours past the veil. That's what happens," Virgil breathed in, reminding himself that she hadn't been in the chamber before. "There's a veil and past it is the unknown. The barrier between this life and the next."

It truly was unknown. Going into the Limbo as a mind and soul wasn't the same as walking in as a complete body and soul. Nobody had survived doing that (yet). He let go of Abby's hand, conscious now that he was addressing Flower Girl instead.

And Flower Girl, much as she disliked him, knew that he was capable. "You know, we have one thing in common that's going to make this rather hard for you and almost easy for me." Virgil's sulky mouth twisted into a grim smile. "Neither of us want to die. We really, really don't. It's also what makes me low risk."

Everyone who worked in the Death Chamber had to take a mental and spiritual evaluation to determined their risk levels, at the hands of proficient Legilimens. Anyone with even the slightest suicidal tendency wasn't allowed in the room and only low risk Unspeakables could work near the arch.

"You don't have to give me an answer now," he added, aware that Abby was listening in, "but we'll get everything prepared for the procedure anyway. If you do want me to come."

M - for continuing discussion

---

Iona gratefully withdrew her hand and rested it on her lap. Lost/Rude Boy was making sense. Her bullshit sensor was broken, but she didn't get any idea that he was hiding his feelings or acting out of desperation or driven by anything other than the genuine desire to help his friend. Even her. He wanted to help her.

Her brow furrowed. Could it be that Yavin's enfant terrible wasn't so terrible after all?

Her eyes snapped to his. 

No, she didn't want to die. Abby didn't want to die, either. They were all fighters, the difference being that Abby didn't always feel like she deserved the life she had. Abby was trying to believe that she mattered and that she had worth in a society that had demeaned her since she'd turned eleven. Iona knew Abby had worth. She knew she had worth too, even dead and trapped for twenty years.

Low risk? No. Her bullshit sensor rang loud and clear. But they did have one more thing in common.

"We both love her enough to risk death for her," Iona stated, a smidgen of respect in her voice. She was risking death by meeting it, he was risking death just by being there.

"It might not be as difficult as we fear. But we'll have a think and get back to you by," Iona smirked, "C-O-B."

Close of business.

A few more seconds passed. Earlier, he'd mentioned the possibility of meeting people they knew or loved. Her mouth made a bitter, familiar twist.

"The people we might see in limbo. Can they do any of us harm?"

He felt the heat in his cheeks as Iona fixed him with a look that conveyed how little she thought of low risk.  Virgil had been throwing around that particular term as a way of reassuring others - or himself - that it was going to be fine but there was no denying that this thing they were going to do, it was risky regardless of your mindset. He could die. He was certainly going to try not to but he could.

           "We both love her enough to risk death for her."

Yes. The wizard nodded gently, not trusting himself to speak. It wasn't romantic or physical but it... if there was a place where souls were kept before they came into this life, he was sure that his and Abby's were within proximity of one another. He had known even before he met her, after all, from his vision, that they would be fast friends.

"No." Virgil answered Iona's question, rubbing the back of his neck to ease its tension. "Our theory is that you see them because there's something you want to resolve before moving on. But who truly knows why we see them?"

Mysteries had loads of questions but rarely the corresponding answers. "You don't have to anticipate anything violent," he shrugged. "Emotionally visceral, perhaps."

Iona nodded, relaxing as much as Iona could relax. Virgil seemed sincere. Love wasn't always rotten and twisted. Iona didn't get any sense that there was anything romantic to his affection for Abby, and perhaps that was why she could trust it better, like she tried to trust friends such as Moira, Nemo, Raine.

At the very least, she appreciated his honesty. The souls they might see in Limbo could frighten them on an emotional level, not violently. A risk, but a low(er) risk.

Still, would she be able to remember that souls couldn't harm her there?

"If I panic, is there something you can do? Build a wall?"

Though her gaze remained serious, her mouth twisted wryly, never forgetting her introduction to Rude Boy.

             "If I panic, is there something you can do? Build a wall?"

His lips twisted into a dry smile, remembering how he had 'rescued' Abby from Flower Girl during the sleepover. He crossed his legs again and leaned back with a thoughtful tilt of the head. "I can. Or you can. Almost anything you want will appear, so, if you think of a wall between you and the other soul...."

Virgil wished he could tell her that Limbo would be a pleasant experience but from what he read, it was a carefully neutral state of mind. Perhaps out of necessity.

"When you first manifest in limbo," he rubbed the back of his head, brushing his blonde hair forwards, "you'll be naked. You have to want clothes[1] and then the clothes will appear. Any kind of clothes you find comfortable or most at ease in."

That part, at least, he was used to. Always in his periwinkle pyjamas. He hesitated before pressing on, "I'm told that the fear we feel towards death, we won't feel it in Limbo."

1.	Book canon but not movie canon!