Seven plus years of history came flooding back to him in a matter of moments. When it was over, all Asher could think was that he really fucking hated this place. After that initial thought, all he can think about is Ray and the twins.

That ring - Ray's ring, he knew that now - just like Onyx, it had been in the apartment the day he'd arrived, but he hadn't paid it any mind. Not until tonight. He wasn't sure what made him give the thing a second glance today, but he did. A second glance, a slip onto his finger and he was slammed with some weird vertigo-like sensation that nearly knocked him clear off his feet. When it was over, he remembered everything. How things ended back home - for him, at least - and the past seven years on the island; he remembered all of it. His first day there, in the city, and how he acted towards Ray and the twins, too.

Once he thought it was all in there and that there wasn't anymore of the freaky picture show left to flash in his head, he'd tracked down the number in the directory and text Ray. He could have called, he probably should have called, but what the fuck would he have said? He just needed his address, he could figure out the rest on the way there. Or that had been the plan, anyway.

Standing just outside the door, now, he was still just as clueless as before. Was he supposed to apologize? That's not something he did often. Never mind the fact that he was just the innocent victim of circumstance in this instance.

With an agitated growl at the back of his throat, Asher finally knocked lightly. He didn't want to wake Daniel and Celia if they were asleep. Then again, Ray was probably less likely to hit him if they were awake.

This was a bad idea.

Asher had know as much going into it, of course, but he played along. What was the harm? It kept Danica happy, for one. That in and of itself was reason enough. The other one being that Asher had never really expected them to find anything. They had an eternity, what were a few months wasted, scouring the four corners of the globe, chasing a myth they'd never meet in the flesh?

Only this time, they did meet him. And he was pissed.

Wolfie was dead, his ashes wafting in the stale air of that subterranean deathtrap as the ground beneath them began to groan and quake. Their lanterns flicked, lighting up a terrifying vignette of an armored creature, rising out of the earth, thrashing and growling and headed straight for Danica.

She screamed.

The ground was still moving and lights still flashed in and out, but the scream faded into more of screech by the end. A whistle? When the lights finally hold steady, Asher's eyes dart around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

A train. He was standing on a train, Grimwood, Danica and that thing nowhere to be seen. What was this? Did he get knocked out? Had he met the same fate as Wolfie? What the fuck was happening and why was it happening on a fucking train?

Things had been quiet, and Asher wasn't sure yet if that was a good or a bad thing. In that moment, as he sat at the bar of the gazebo outside the hut, he couldn't say he actually cared one way or another. The farthest thing from his mind was Hannibal King and the trouble he'd brought along with him when he showed up.

Maybe he didn't often show it or even think about it all that much, but he knew he had it pretty good on the Island. It wasn't the sort of thought he'd openly express to Danica - lest she disown him completely for thinking something so disgustingly vile - but he knew. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't home, not really, but life on the Island wasn't what it used to be nearly five years ago.

He had Danica, pain in the ass that she was, and that alone made things more bearable than they had been when he first showed up. He had Del and the twins. And, now, he had Ray.

Things could have been a lot worse. Things have been a lot worse...

And its with that thought that he thinks maybe Danica should disown him, because even he was making himself a little nauseous.

Once he had realized what it was he was staring at, it was almost instantly that he had started wondering what the consequences would be. In the end, it probably wouldn't be anything as odd as killer toys, but still, there had to be something.

It was even quicker still that he realized he could wonder just as well from the inside as he could if he were just standing and staring on the outside.

As far as surprise gifts from the Island went, a hot tub and gazebo definitely didn't suck. The champagne, fruit and dessert tray were all nice touches, too, but they did feel a bit like the Island imposing upon his sex-life. He didn't need any help in that area, especially not from an entity he couldn't see.

Head tipped back over the edge of the tub, Asher shut his eyes and sank down lower into the water. He probably should have waited for Ray to turn up before enjoying it, but Ray's name hadn't been on the gift tag, so he didn't feel too bad about it.

He hadn't popped the cork on the champagne yet, so that was something. Even though he thought not being given another fucking horse was almost reason enough to drink.

Considering the history he'd had with this particular holiday on the island, Asher wondered if it would be at all possible for him to just stay in bed all day and wait for it all to go away. He wasn't sure what 'it' was just yet, but it would be something, he knew it. Less than an hour past midnight and he was already counting down till the day was over.

"I don't know which scenario is scarier, the island going psycho horror flick or sugared up two-year-olds," Asher said, words muffled by the pillow covering his face, hands clasped together on his stomach. Because even if the island didn't try to ax murder everyone, there was still the potential for candy, and he wasn't even sure if the twins had come down from their high due to all the junk food at the amusement park even after a week.

Asher had managed to completely miss the birth of his own kids, but, as luck would have it, he'd caught the last half of this one. The gross half. The half that made sense out of just why the fathers weren't around when babies were being delivered way back when.

He'd gotten to the barn early in the morning to feed Beau and Belle, just the same as he had every other morning before. Except there were two and a half horses when he got there that time, and three whole ones just a while later.

Beau had been fed at some point during the wait, and Asher finally fed Belle once it was all over, but she was more interested in cleaning the foal up than eating. After watching that, Asher didn't have much of an appetite himself, either.

[from here]

"Looks like we have to look up the word lucky, too," he said, 'rolling with it', as Ray had asked, because there wasn't much else he could do. If nothing else, at least it was a step up from earlier that afternoon, but that probably wasn't saying all that much.

"That's half the battle, I guess." But hopefully Ray was a quick learner.

He navigated through the crowd, weaving around bodies and avoiding any collisions despite how congested the area was.

The gentle rocking of the boat had kept Asher in bed a lot later than he was accustomed to, and he might had stayed that way for an hour or two longer if it hadn't been for the sun streaming in through the porthole beside him. He tried pulling the covers up over his head but that made him too hot, and draping an arm over his eyes wasn't all that comfortable a position.

Grumbling quietly at the back of his throat, he eventually conceded to the idea that fighting it wasn't going to get him anywhere; he was awake. It wasn't until he stretched and his elbow nudged against something solid that his eyes finally opened slowly, blinking a few times before they focused properly.

Suddenly, the sun in his eyes was the very least of his problems.

Yelling was followed by scrambling, which was quickly followed by groaning as Asher had managed to scramble himself right off the foot of the bed in all of his flailing and commotion. "What the fuck?!" He hissed pulling a fucking shoe out from under himself. And it wasn't even his shoe!

It did make for an excellent projectile, though, so he threw it from his awkward position of the floor and just hoped it connected with Vecchio.