Summary: When one dies and returns from the very pits of Hell, can love be enough to stop the destruction it's suppose to cause? Or will the evil be too much to fight off? And if so, can it be stopped once it starts?
Psycho Chan's Note: Again, I really don't have a flow for this story I just wanted to try a different kind of story…hopefully it won't be as short chaptered as 'If Yesterday Never Happened'…I think I need a hobby…well…an active hobby. My Mom helped me with this story in Arby's one day. I bring a notebook everywhere with me and she has this habit of looking over my shoulder and reading my stuff. She asked what I was writing, I told her, and she gave me a few ideas and stuff. She's great.
Disclaimer: I don't own and never will…I need a life…a different and perhaps more meaningful life that is.
Regret Lingers
He wasn't suppose to die…honestly…I thought he would live. I mean…I didn't want either of them to die…Ebon might have been a real prick but…He didn't deserve to die like that…and HotStreak…Francis and I had an argument about the cure…but…I didn't think the explosion would kill them. I knew it would stop them…nothing else was working. They had to be stopped. But they weren't suppose to die.
Francis and I were suppose to be together forever…He promised me forever. I believed him. I honestly believed him. He wasn't suppose to die so young. And not by my hands. Richie told me that it couldn't be helped. But what if he's wrong? He's been wrong before. Francis can't be dead. He can't be. He just can't be.
However…it's been well over a year since that night…it's almost been two…just a few more months…and Francis will have been dead for two years…and I still miss him…I still need him. Why did it have to be him? Why him? Why now?
Its been so long since I heard his voice…I wasn't sure I'd make it…I'm still not sure. I still need him. I still miss him so much. He's gone. He's really gone and it's my fault. I watched him die…I killed the love of my life…
I never even got so say how sorry I was…or how much I loved him…or…good bye…
Once again, Virgil Hawkins tosses and turns in his sleep, if that's what one would call that. No matter how much sleep the boy gets, he never gets any rest. And he hasn't gotten any since that fateful night, just a few days after metahumans started losing their powers. After the few remaining metahumans got together and stole the last of the bang baby gas, with Ebon as their leader as he started a second Big Bang. He got half his wish, having starting the bang as the contaminate spread downwind, creating more metahumans. However, Ebon would not lead them as he hoped. In fact, there was a few casualties, including Ebon himself and someone else that held some importance to the hero. The youth has had a hard time dealing with the death of his boyfriend, HotStreak. The city as much as his friends seemed to have moved on, even Richie. Adam still has his moments with dealing with the fact that he is now without family, in other words, he is alone. Sure, he had Sharon and the two were soon to be wedded, however, that wasn't quite the same as a brother. Ivan had raised him, took care of him, looked after him. He may have been a criminal where as Adam was a newfound hero but his brother was still there for him. Even when he was against him. Adam's mother left shortly after he was born and his father died only a few years later, and all he had was Ivan. His brother raised him, looked after him, even though he was a hero, though they still had their battles, arguments and disagreements. The death of his brother hit the musician pretty hard. There was just no way around it, his brother had brought his own destruction upon himself.
However, Virgil had given everything he had to Francis. Gave everything he could. His family, his friends, his home…well…maybe not everything. Virgil never got around to sharing the fact that he was Static, mostly out of fear that HotStreak would leave him. Somehow the two started talking after what had went down with AquaMaria, when Virgil found out there was more to his bully that he ever thought possible. After finding out about Jay, Virgil welcomed Francis into his home with open arms, without hesitation. There were many awkward moments but after a few weeks, the two started getting along, even going as far as dating. Robert was amazed at the growth Francis was showing having knowing him before at the community center. HotStreak was a run away as a kid and needed a few pick-me-ups he was able to get from the older man. Coats for winter, food and shelter. Things like that. Even Sharon admitted that HotStreak wasn't as bad a person she once thought, having seen the way her brother looks at the red head and the red head returning that look. That familiar look that she has seen in her mother's eyes with Robert. It was love. Virgil was going to tell Francis the truth. Really he was. He didn't even tell his family thought his father had found out, he had yet to tell Sharon as well.
Sharon only found out because of the news. Static and Gear were in an interview and they were asking the two questions about the possible death of Ebon and HotStreak. Sharon easily recognized that look on Static's face. The sheer desolation in those once chocolate eyes…there wasn't a doubt in her mind. In fact, it's how Daisy and Frieda found out about Virgil and Richie's secret though they had questioned it before. They never even brought it up. As far as the two heroes knew, they didn't know the truth. Just like his lover hadn't.
Giving up on sleep, Virgil opens his eyes, blinking slowly.
The seventeen year old faces the wall, dull eyes staring past the white painted obstacle. He regretted that the most. Virgil strongly believes that if he had told his lover that he was Static, he wouldn't have fought him like he had. Static was the enemy, Virgil was not. If only he had told him, things might have played out differently. With a heavy sigh, Virgil lazily sits up, observing his dark and messy room. Sometimes, when the boy first wakes up, he still expects to see HotStreak somewhere. Either picking up the room out of annoyance of Virgil's wonderful housekeeping skills or sitting on his desk on the computer, most likely gambling online. But just like every other time, Virgil saw nothing except his room. He has yet to do something with the red head's stuff. He kept all the CD's, DVD's, magazines and clothes Francis owned, those being the only things that he brought from his father's house. He didn't own much.
The realization of the death seems to hit the youth again, tears filling his already puffy eyes. Virgil hated feeling lonely. In a way he felt abandoned and betrayed. Even in a crowded room he felt empty and forgotten. He knew this was unhealthy but he loved that man. He loved him so much and there was nothing he could do now but miss him. The thought of finding someone else was just sickening. He didn't belong with anyone else. Even after being apart for so long, Virgil still needs the man. He needed to hear his voice, his sarcasm, his anger or frustration, any of it. The teen just needed something. Anything.
After the funeral, Virgil never really left his room, comforted by the fact that he and Francis shared it together. It was welcoming and gave comfort. After a few months, that comfort was found to be fake, making him feel more hallow. Feeling that ill sensation once more, Virgil gets up to his feet, tugging on the loose bath robe that resided on the floor next to his bed. Not bothering with the slippers, the heart broken teen heads downstairs. "Moms…why did it have to be him?" was whispered into the dark air. Almost expecting an answer, Virgil slowly makes his way down the stairs, hand sliding down the banister, the smooth texture making his hand slide with ease. "Then again…why did it have to be you…"
Jean helped people. Virgil never understood why she had to die. Shot by a stray bullet…However, Francis was a bad man though he began to behave once he began dating the young hero. HotStreak was just beginning to get his life together. He had gotten away from Jay, he was serving his jail time in community service, he was even let back into school and got a job. Life was going good for him. Then Virgil had to-
Before Virgil could even finish that thought, something snaps him out of his personal torture. "Something the matter Virgil?"
Startled, Virgil jumps slightly, turning his head to the kitchen. "Pops…"
"It's almost midnight. You should be asleep son." Robert explains gently.
Moving his way into the dully lit kitchen, Virgil ignores the cold feeling of the tiled flooring under his feet. "So should you" the youth takes his place on the chair across from the larger man. "I couldn't sleep…" was explained quietly. Now that he thought about it, he rarely slept. Now that he thought about it again, he was sure everyone else knew this as well.
"Neither could I." Robert sighs, sipping some hot chocolate he had just made, the steam still raising quickly. Sharon would chew him out again if he were to have coffee at such a ridiculous hour. "It's a really slow night" the larger man breaths out into his mug.
"Yeah…it is…" Virgil sets his elbows on the table, leaning forward for comfort. "Then again it's just been a long year…" Strange as it seemed, he just wished it would go slower. It seemed with each passing day more of Francis was erased from this world, and Virgil hated it. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't do anything to stop it.
Robert knew full well that his son was still hurting, and he himself knew the pain of losing someone close, someone you love more than life itself. He had to admit, when he first heard of Francis's death, he knew Virgil would take it hard. But he didn't think he would take it this hard. Then again, Robert should have known better. He had seen the look his son has given HotStreak. Seen the love, seen the need, the life. Robert had seen it before many times, in Jean's eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes…
"It'll get easier Virgil…" Robert explains in hopes to get his son's dying attention.
Hearing his name, Virgil looks up to look at his father. "How? How can it?" It was quite easy to see that Virgil didn't believe him. It is also easy to see that he didn't want to.
Thinking for an answer to give his son, Robert peers into his mug. "It just does…time eases the pain…it just…takes time…" Robert remembers the many nights, the time, the tears, every little thing that either helped ease the pain or just brought it back in one hard hit to the head.
An awkward silence fills the room, both thinking of their loved one, the reason for Robert being downstairs in the first place. He never fully got over Jean, even though he's dating Trina. He knew that a part of him will always love his departed wife, nothing will change that. But no matter how one words it, it still hurt, and he knows it will never go away. However, it doesn't hurt as much and he now treasures every precious memory and every moment he has now, good or bad.
Finally the silence is broken after nearly twenty minutes. "I miss him Pops…so much…" Virgil barely manages to mutter through a shaky voice almost not his own.
"I know you do Virgil…the only thing you can do is hold on to every memory and move on. We stay focused on the door that closes that we rarely see the ones that open up." Robert lifts his large body to his feet, pushing in his chair. "And some we have to open up ourselves." Walking over the kitchen sink, the older man rinses his mug. "I'm headed to bed. You should do the same."
"Yeah…" Virgil response with a nod, taking this into consideration.
"Good night Virgil."
"Good night Pops." Virgil's bronze eyes stay on the flat surface of the table in front of him as his ears picks up on the footsteps of his father leaving the room and the proceeding up the stairs. Getting up himself, Virgil saunters past the staircase into the living room. The last place he needs to be in is his room and often, Virgil finds himself in the living room, on the couch. Just like many other lingering nights, Virgil collapses onto the couch, sighing heavily as he does so. And just like every other time, he tries to go to sleep only to gaze up at the ceiling. "Francis I'm so sorry…" Blinking back tears, Virgil covers his face with his hands, shaking slightly. "I'm so sorry…"
He only wished he could tell him to his face.
