Brotherly Love
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "Never thought of him as a brother - just mom and dad's science project"
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I always surprise myself when I get attached to a character that I never took interest in before. I was shocked when I discovered I thought Forge rocked, amazed when I discovered I really quite liked Mastermind, but Havok…he just blindsided me out of nowhere, considering I avoided the Summers-Grey lot like the plague. I blame the Sidney Chronicles, I was researching Alex stuff for that and thought 'actually, he isn't so bad'.. So there you go. This one-shot is also proof I can write Scott nicely too, yes, he's a bully, but he admitted it in the Cauldron, and I quote 'What happened to that scrawny little kid I used to pick on'. There you have it, he was a jerk, he was an older brother. The end scene is basically the flashback from 'The Cauldron', though with a bit extra added on.
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Anchorage, Alaska
It is said that your siblings are the best friends you will ever have. Of course, no siblings would actually admit such a thing to each other, especially when they are kids.
"My brother is a moron, My brother is a moron!"
Katherine Summers pinched the bridge of her nose as her eight year old son sang gleefully in the back of the car, happily prodding his four year old brother on the side of the head. (1)
"Am NOT!", replied the younger sibling, frowning.
"Moron, Moron, Mooorooon", the elder continued.
"Mooooooom", whined the younger, "Scott's doing it again!"
"Scott, stop picking on your brother", said Katherine with a sigh.
"But I wasn't", said Scott, blinking at her innocently with green eyes, "all I was doing was singing" (2)
"Nuh, uh!", said Alex, "he was poking me and calling me a moron"
"Pipe down back there", said Christopher Summers from behind the wheel, "or we won't go to Monty's".
An instant, almost eerie silence filled the back seat. Monty's was a fabled place for the Summers family. Every year on their annual trip to Alaska, the family visited this diner. It wasn't much, but it did have a man who dressed up as an oversized husky to serve desert provided a high point for the boy's vacation.
"That's better", chuckled Christopher, adjusting his glasses.
Katherine smiled, ahh, sweet blissful silence.
"You started it", hissed Scott.
"No, you did", retorted Alex
Katherine groaned, sinking in her seat…this was going to be a long, long ride.
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Eventually, they did make it to Monty's, albeit with a few unscheduled stops to prise the fighting brothers apart.. As was the age old way with children, however, as soon as they started eating, there was silence. They couldn't yell and eat at the same time, after all. Not that such quiet moments lasted for long.
"I've finished, Mom", said Scott, showing her his empty plate, "I'm a good boy"
"Butt-kisser", muttered Alex under his breath as he poked his food with a fork.
"Yes, Scott, you're a good boy", sighed Katherine, then looked at Alex, "Eat your cauliflower, Alexander"
Alex looked at the food on his plate and pulled a face.
"Belgh", he muttered darkly, "I hate cauliflower" (3)
He picked up a piece of cauliflower and launched it at his brother, the vegetable bouncing off Scott's head.
"OWWWWW!", shouted Scott, over dramatising a little, "that hurt!. Tell Alex to stop throwing stuff at me!"
"Alex, stop throwing food around, and Scott, stop whining", said Christopher, "if you behave, you might get ice-cream…might"
"But we have to have ice-cream, Dad", pointed out Alex, "Monty the Husky won't come if we don't have desert"
"He's just a guy in a suit, you know", said Scott matter-of-factly.
"Is not!", said Alex.
"Is too!"
"Not!"
"Too!"
"Not!"
"Too!"
"Boys", said Katherine with a nervous laugh, "please stop fighting… people are looking"
Sure enough, other customers were turning in their booths to watch, not that it deterred the brothers one bit.
"DIE!"
Alex laughed himself at Scott and the two fell tumbling out of the booth, rolling on the ground in the scuffle. Scott, being bigger and heavier, however, pinned his little brother to the floor. Scott smirked, tweaking Alex's ears, knocking his head repeatedly on the ground. (4)
"Say uncle!", shouted Scott.
"Oww!", said Alex as his head hit the ground, "no, owww! Leggo! OWWW!"
"Scot, Alex, stop that this instant", said Christopher sternly, being promptly ignored.
Unfortunately, while Scott attempted to cause his brother a killer of a headache, Monty, in his husky suit, was walking towards the table, his arms laden with ice-cream. His suit didn't give very much in the vision department, so he didn't realise the boys were there until he'd tripped over them. His tray of ice-cream went sailing through the air, almost defying gravity, before raining down on the other customers like a sticky, sugar-filled storm. Monty himself collided with a table, knocking himself out cold for several minutes. Needless to say, it got the brothers to stop fighting.
"…..We're dead", said Scott, releasing Alex's ears, the younger boy's head thunking on the ground once more.
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"I have never been so embarrassed in all my life!"
Yup, Scott got it right, okay. The two brothers shifted guiltily as they sat in their seats of their father's vintage aircraft. Christopher did his job of piloting, trying to look through the heavy rain that had suddenly appeared. Katherine, however, was in full rant mode.
"To think we were banned from Monty's because you couldn't help beating up your brother", she said, glaring at Scott.
Scott looked down guiltily was Alex stifled a chuckle. A chuckle which soon ended when Katherine turned her glare on him.
"And don't even think you're in the clear, Mister", she scolded, "you started it, and caused outright havoc!" (5)
"Sorry, Mom", said Alex quietly.
"So you should be", said Katherine, "you are both grounded when we get home. No video games and no TV".
With that, she stopped back to the cockpit to sit with her husband. Alex winced, rubbing the back of his sore head.
"That hurt", he growled, quietly so their parents couldn't hear.
"You deserved it", said Scott with a sniff, "you threw food at me"
"I owe you for that one", said Alex darkly, "I'll get you back, one day, when you least expect it" (6)
Scott snorted.
"Yeah, right, suuuurreee you will, Alex"
Alex pouted crossing his arms and glaring out of the window.
"I wish I never had a brother"
Scott narrowed his eyes at him, before mirroring his brothers movements, glaring out the opposite window.
"Same here"
It was then a loud crack of thunder sounded in the sky, and something hit the plane, hard, causing it to shake, violently.
"What was that?", asked Scott, blinking as his mother rushed in to them.
"Stay calm, sweetie", she said, "the plane's caught some lightening, that's all. Your father's landing it as we speak".
The plane shook again, smoke beginning to filter into the cabin.
"Mom…I'm scared", whimpered Alex.
"I know, it's okay, Honey", said Katherine, rummaging desperately around, she had to find at least one parachute, at least ONE, "please, oh please" (7)
She gave a cry of thanks as she found two small parachutes stowed away. Moving quickly, she strapped one to Alex, and the other onto Scott.
"Dad", coughed Scott, looking towards the cockpit, "this smoke is hurting my throat".
"Don't worry", said Christopher, before frowning as the plane's steering control went dead, "Katherine….help me get the door open"
Husband and wife locked eyes, each knowing what had to be done. They would have to make the ultimate sacrifice. But what parents wouldn't die for their children to have a chance of life? Katherine nodded numbly, holding back tears to keep the boys from panicking, moving over to help her husband with the door. With some effort, it creaked open.
"Okay, boys", said Christopher, kneeling down to look at them both, "you guys have to jump now"
He looked at Scott.
"Scotty, do you remember how to work the parachute? Like I taught you?".
Scott frowned, something wasn't right here…not right at all.
"Yeah, Dad, you, you pull on the chord", said Scott, pointing to his own, "but…aren't you guys gonna jump with us".
Katherine stifled a sob, the wind whipping through her blonde hair, covering some of her features.
"There are only two parachutes, Scott", said Christopher with a soft frown.
"….You're not coming?", asked Alex with a whimper.
"We can't, Sweetie", said Katherine, kissing her sons in turn, "we can't"
Christopher pulled both boys into a hug.
"Promise me", he said, "promise me you'll look out for each other. You need each other. You…. You'll be all each other will have".
"I promise", said Scott, closing his green eyes with a sob, clinging to his father.
"Uh huh", said Alex.
"Good boys", said Christopher, ushering them to the plane exit, "be brave now, 'kay?"
Go on, now", whispered Katherine, "I love you" (8)
The wind and rain whipped through their hair as the boys looked down at the steadily decreasing drop as the plane lost altitude. The heat from the tail fire was starting to hurt. As one, they turned back to their parents. Not wanting to leave them… not wanting to make that leap into the unknown. Christopher and Katherine hugged their sons close.
Scott took a deep breath, before leading his brother to the doorway of the plane. They glanced down, then holding onto each other.. jumped. Katherine and Christopher watched in tears as their children plummet groundwards.
Alex watched as the plane plummeted away from them, his arms out wide. He watched as his parents vanished away. Suddenly, he felt very, very alone. It was then a hand clamped tightly onto his. He glanced up to see Scott falling a little above him. They locked eye for a moment. Green to brown. Scott then reached out, grabbing the chord of Alex's parachute and pulling it, watching in relief as it released, sending a billowing old parachute fabric up, catching the wind and slowing his little brother's descent. That done, he closed his eyes tight, pulling his own, feeling the jerk of the wind as it caught.
A deafening roar sounded above them, causing Scott to look up. He watched in terror as his chute caught on fire, and he began to drop like a stone. Alex watched this in horror, his own parachute unharmed.
"SCOTT!", he shouted.
But there was nothing he could do but watch helplessly as his big brother plummeted to earth, vanishing as a dot. Alex closed his eyes. No. It wasn't fair. He'd just lost his parents, why did he have to lose Scott too? He let out a sob as his parachute caught the wind, taking him further away from where Scott had dropped. When he landed on the ground with a gentle thud, he didn't even get up. He just curled himself into a little ball, the rain from the storm drenching him. Why should he care if he was found? He was alone now… all alone. It was with that thought, that he fell unconcious, exhausted by the whole ordeal, too much for a 4 year old kid to cope with.
Scott hit the ground with much greater force, some distance away from his brother. He didn't have time to feel regret, fear, solitude. All he felt was a blinding pain….and nothing.
And so it was that the Brother's Summers lay, but a ten minute walk apart….though would be separated for ten years after that. Though they would be found by the same hospitals, a mix-up in paperwork would bring the mistaken belief that each brother was the only survivor of the crash. Something that would haunt both Scott and Alex deeply as they grew up apart. One with foster parents in Hawaii, the other in an orphanage in Alaska. Until they were reuniting each believing they were really and truly.. alone.
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(1) – Scott was definitely 8 when the accident happened, as Kitty stated in the Cauldron he hadn't 'seen his brother for 10 years', as Scott was 18 then, well, the math is simple. As for Alex's age, well, he looks in Evo to be around 4 years or so younger than Scott, even if in the comics, they had a 6 year age gap.
(2) – Scott has green eyes in the Flashback sequence of the Cauldron. Even if they have changed in almost every episode he reveals his eyes, I'm sticking to kiddie Scott eye colour.
(3) – He does.. according to the only existing Havok site, anyway.
(4) – He did this in cannon, it's mentioned in one of the comics when the grown up Scott does the same thing to a brainwashed Alex. Scott was a mean kid, wasn't he?
(5) – See what I did there? Humour me, I like to be clever sometimes.
(6) – I always wondered what Scott 'had coming to him' that would cause Alex to punch his brother in the arm on their reunion. I decided to answer the question myself.
(7) – In the comics, she did only find one, which was strapped to Scott and he carried Alex with him. Of course, Evo screwed that one up, so I had to change things a bit.
(8) – According to an X-Factor comic (complete with Alex POV flashback) the last thing Katherine ever said to her children was that she loved them. Aww.
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Oh boy, that one depressed me, but I'm glad I wrote it. Ahh, I do love delving into angst once in a while. Poor Scott and Alex. Actually, Alex was supposed to have amnesia after the incident, but as seen as he seemed to allude to remembering Scott a lot through his childhood, I will assume this is not the case in Evo. Do review. Thanks for reading.