Chapter 12:

Life as we know it

Crouched, knees braced against cold steel, purpling hair drenched in sweat, chest heaving as she panted; Nell was precariously balanced in the rafters of one of the normally empty barns scattered across the Whammy manor. Why? To practice parkour. She had learned about it during a reading for one of her classes and found the subject interesting. After exhausting all the resources the library had to offer on the subject, she had asked Big Brother, L, to send her some files on it. After a week of reading how-to articles and studying video clips, Nell had taken to the gym during free-time to practice.

Why was she in one of the abandoned barns hidden in a back corner of Whammy's land? Well, at first, nobody had taken much mind to the small nine year old running at the walls or jumping from bar to bar on the gymnastics equipment. Most of the time, she failed miserably and went back to Beyond's or her room to patch herself up and study some more. But, as she started catching the hang of it, she started drawing a crowd around her. The older kids were taking bets on whether or not she finally fell and killed herself while the younger children watched in awe as she managed to climb higher and higher every day. And then some stupid idiots tried copying her without building up the strength or agility to even dream about practicing parkour. They started getting hurt and, after a string of broken bones in the infirmary, Roger traced the injuries back to her. After a week of arguments and restrictions, Roger locking her in her room and screaming for hours about how this was the life she was supposed to lead, Roger had finally relented. He told her she could continue but only if she did it where the other children couldn't see her.

And so now, she spend at least an hour everyday practicing. There was a bell she moved around the barn, hanging it from various locations that you couldn't reach by any normal means. Ringing the bell meant she'd reached her goal for the time being. Most of the time she was alone, but sometimes Beyond and Alternative would join her. A would read or work on his homework, bringing a pillow and a blanket to make himself comfortable. B would watch and jeer, heckling her had become one of his favorite pass-times. Sometimes, B was helpful. He'd note when she missed an opportune handhold or be able to see obstacles from a different point of view, suggesting a better and safer path than the one she had already tried. It was quiet and relaxing in an odd sort of way. The deep burning ache in her muscles clearing the thoughts from her mind. The normal rabble of the orphanage so far away. No pressure, no expectations, no anything.

"Still not gonna make peace with him?"

Startled, Nell jumped, almost losing her footing. Fingers digging tightly into the old wooden rafters, she looked below her to see Beyond standing directly below the bell. He seemed to be appraising her placement of the bell before looking back to her. "The fuck did you get it there?"

"With the ladder and some string, dumbass," Nell tilted her head towards the wall the ladder was propped against. "Do you think I could really just magic a bell into the middle of the room?"

Beyond shrugged, "No….. but ladders are so mundane."

"But very useful in a pinch," Nell trained her focus back on the bell. This rafter gave her the best shot at reaching the bell, but there was no rebound or landing that would result in injury from this angle. But…. Well, Beyond was here now. Might work, she mused. Launch herself around the underside of the rafter, slap the bell, hit Beyond. "Catch"

Beyond had no time to respond as Nell spun herself around the rafter, using the momentum it built up to launch herself towards the bell. A blur of purple and the soft trill of the tiny bell were the only other warnings B had before the nine year old bundle of energy came burling into his chest. Green eyes stared up at him as Nell unfurled the ball she had curled herself into. "Ten for the dismount but your landing was absolutely abysmal."

"I blame you… You almost didn't catch me," Nell combed her hair back away from her eyes as she turned to reexamine the barn. Having the bell hang dead center was proving to be her most challenging arrangement yet. Couldn't reach it in any manner from the ground. No good angle from the walls. And obviously, the rafters were only plausible with a second party involved. She'd have to keep working at it.

"You're avoiding my question." Those red eyes bore into the back of her skull. Messy purple hair was tied haphazardly at the nap of her neck, over-sized white t-shirt hung loosely from her shoulders (might have been a cast-off of either his or L's), and short-tights. Her usual practice attire. But there was more to it than just that. The shirt hadn't been laundered in ages and the sweat drenching her tiny frame suggested she'd been at it for more than her usual hour today. The harshness with which she held her shoulders and the tension radiating from her person suggested that Nell was currently running on a power source of anger and frustration. "So either you're still ignoring Roger or you tried talking with him and got into another argument."

"B… can we not…" She turned back towards her best friend. "I don't really wanna talk bout it. I just wanna figure out how to get the bell you're help…. And it's proving rather difficult."

"Nell, you can't avoid him forever. He is your family, you know," Beyond nodded towards the small girl. Nell barely gave him a second thought as she hurled herself at the side to barn, ricocheting of the wall only to turn midair and begin to work her way up into the rafters again. It was her goal to reach the bell by herself. That was all she wanted to think about, all she was willing to think about. There would be no more dwelling on her fights with Roger or what they could mean to her. And she sure as hell wasn't going to take advice from Beyond about it. He was always fighting with his brother… and his solution to everything was the silent treatment. What did it matter if she was talking to her uncle or not.

Panting with the effort of propelling herself up and across the empty barn, Nell paused to wipe at the sweat dripping down her brow. She was in the rafters again, up a row and wedge into the supports. She just wanted to ignore everything and everyone. But that was not how her day was to play out. She was not going to just sit in a cold barn in the farthest of Whammy's fields, listening to her own heaving breaths and the rain battering the ancient roofing. No. Because there was Beyond, red eyes that had followed her every move, tracking the small nine year old. As cold and cynical as he was, he refused to let his best friend be the same. He had seen the look in her eyes before she'd turned her back on him. It was the same look he'd first seen in them, five years ago. A tiny little girl so very sad and confused and, above all else, confused.

Grabbing the ladder Nell had used to hang her bell, he propped it against the wall next to the rafter closest to her. Slowly, he worked his way up to her level. Maneuvering atop the rafters was no easy feat for Beyond. He lacked the skill, grace, and low center of gravity the Nell was lucky enough to possess. Instead of fliting around with practiced ease, Beyond found himself clambering across the rafter on all fours as he managed to make it to the support joint Nell had burrowed into. His best friend had tears pouring down her face as she cried silently.

"You're making me go through an awful fucking lot of work, ya know," Beyond's red eyes were softer than normal as he swung his legs to hang over the edge of the rafter. Sitting was a much safer option than attempting to get any closer to Nell. "I'm fucking terrible at all this climbing and balancing fuckery. Gonna slip to my death and Imma leave you to explain why to Lawlipop."

Sniffles where the only response that met Beyond's ear. He couldn't help but to examine the view from up here. You could see everything from up here. Looked completely different from down on the ground. You could see the walls and everything that had been moved to the side to make sure Nell didn't fall on it. The random assortment of mats that littered the ground to cushion a fall. All of it and how it interacted and wove together. He could see the route Nell had taken to get up here, and all the other possible ones she could have potentially chosen. "It's nice up here…. Could see how all your clambering and climbing around could be useful. Fucking lot of work, still, but fucking useful as well….. So, whachu two get in a fight about this time?"

Wiping her face, Nell swung herself around the support and landed beside Beyond. She snuggled up to the thirteen year old, forcing him to wrap one of his arms over her shoulders. "We fought over this again… He really wants me to stop all of it. The gymnastics, all the different martial arts forms, the parkour, the anatomy and psychology, the criminal studies….. anything he thinks that might be leading to me….. ya know…."

"Following in your mum's footsteps?" Beyond ruffled her hair, trying to lighten up the mood a little. "What's so wrong with you doing what she did?"

"Roger says…. Roger says it'll corrupt my soul," Nell buried her face in her knees, curling in on herself. "That it's a despicable profession only for the lowest of all the lowlifes…. And that if I continue to pursue it, I'm going to die horrible and bloody just like my mother…."

"He really said that?"

"Well, not that exactly. But I could tell that's what he wanted to say. I just don't understand…. Why can't he see… this is the only thing I have that brings me closer to her? I mean… I don't want to be her… or like her or whatever. It just, reminds me of her."

"You do realize that you have currently spent more of your life here, at this orphanage, than you did with your mother….. Right?" Beyond questioned, eyeing Nell with an analytic stare. This, apparently, was the worst thing Beyond could have said to his young friend. A fresh wave of sobs racked Nell's body as she clung desperately to Beyond.

"I …. I KNOW! What if I forget her…. Or, like, what if I do everything wrong and become the kinda person she hated the most? I just… B….. This is all I have… I just wanna help make the world better in my own way…. This is all I have of her," She clung desperately to her best friend. All Beyond could do was pat her head and hold her close. How do you respond to that? Nell was the people person. She's the one who normally dealt with this kind of thing. He could always ask Alt…. but he currently was avoiding B so that wasn't really an option. So sitting in the rafters of a drafty barn would have to do.

"Ya know, Roger doesn't really control what any of us do with our futures. We are going to become whoever it is we become. Nobody really controls that but us," Beyond was fumbling his words, glad his brother wasn't around to taunt him about his lack of eloquence. "I know this doesn't really mean much, coming from a budding serial murderer…. But I think that, deep down, your reasoning for what you wanna do with your life… Well, it's definitely not the worst thing in the world you could be doing…. And, awh fuck me for saying this. But fuck, Nell, your heart is in the right place and your intentions are the farthest thing from malicious. You want to do this to help Lawli and make the world safer for fuckheads like Roger. And it brings ya closer to your mum. Roger is just terrified you're gonna end up tied up in the wrong crowd like ya mum did…. Just… Be you, kay?"

"Thanks, B," Nell flashed him a teary eyed smile before giggling slightly. "Also, you should be so happy I don't keep like a tape recorder or something in here with me."

"You tell anybody I said a word of that, and I'll beat the ever living fuck outta ya," Beyond glared, eyes glowing the deep blush of blood. "I fucking mean it!"

"Yeah yeah, you wish you could beat me," Nell gave Beyond a playful shove before darting off to do a lap around the rafters. "So, where is A?"

"Fuck if I know," Beyond's eyes followed Nell as the small girl worked her way round the barn. "Bugger's been fucking avoiding me. You wouldn't happen to know what the ever living hell he's on about, would ya?"

"That's the whole reason you came to find me, isn't it," Nell eyed her best friend knowingly. "All because the mighty Back-up has been ignored by Alternative."

"Shut it," Beyond shot her an evil look as she flited between rafters. "We was getting along just fine until your fuckhead of an uncle decided to instill that ranking system. Who gives a flying fuck which one of us brats can pass a retarded test the best? Sure as hell not me. All I know is that Roger starts this fucking ranking test bullshit and next thing I know, A won't even fucking look at me."

"Well, I can tell you, it is most definitely not because of some stupid rank system. Alt has his own reasons… none of which have anything to do with that bloody rank test. I mean… are you really so oblivious?"

"What the hell are you on about?" Beyond face had confusion painted across it. Nell was moving so fast he could barely keep track of her. She stop for just long enough to get her next landing in her sights. "And how the fuck are you so hyper?"

"Because…." She panted, timing her words for when she was stable and there were no chances of tongue biting. "I'm nine…. It's… what we… do." It was like looking at a completely different child. Ten minutes ago she'd been tears and rainy days and now she was all smiles and sunshine. Flighty as a bird, that one was. "Also," Nell landed beside Beyond with a slight thud reverberating through the steel, "Alternative is avoiding you because he has a crush on you."

"The fuck kinda reasoning is that?" Beyond wobbled slightly, his questionable balance shaky with shock that he refused to let paint his face. Nobody had a crush on Beyond Birthday. He was a crass, heartless bastard… On purpose. Most people thought that to piss him off was a death wish. He instilled terror in the hearts of the children of Whammy's. Only person who wasn't the least bit terrified of him was Nell. Even A, who he had been fairly cordial with for the last few years, was terrified of him. Was always apologizing and watching his words. Why the fuck would anxious little A have a crush on him. "And how the fuck do you know."

"Well, obviously, he told me." Giggles, the small girl was all giggles as she twirled to sit beside the older boy. "He likes you… and that's not even why he's avoiding you. It's not the crush…. It's the countless other orphanages he's bounced through. Like half of them are catholic which means it has literally been beaten into him to like it is abhorrently wrong for a boy to like another boy. Also, he thinks you'll beat the ever living fuck out of him if you find out."

"That's fucked up… why would some almighty God give a ratsass where anybody sticks their dick?" The look of confusion had finally made its way to Beyond's face. Black eyebrows knit together, red eyes glassing over in concentration, messy dark hair falling all over the place. A had a crush on him… How did he feel about it? "And why the fuck would I beat him up?"

Nell shrugged in response. "Why wouldn't you. You are a malicious ass, are you not?"

"I might be an ass but I'm not gonna beat the fuck out him just cause he has a crush on me."

"So….. What are ya gonna do about it?" Nell's grins and giggles dropped away instantly, seriousness quickly overcoming the hyper. "Cause if you choose to play with his feelings to your advantage, I will beat the ever living fuck out of you, got it?"

"And nobody believes that you are the scary one," Beyond could not help but roll his eyes. "And I don't know what I'm going to do about it. I like him; he's one I'd consider him a friend… But I don't know I how I feel about him. You know I have absolutely no problem with the fact that he has penis instead of a vagina."

"I know that B…. I know what you and L talk about when you think nobody is around," Nell smiled, patting B on the back. "Take some time to think about, okay? And then you'll have to be the one to Alternative."

"Yeah, yeah. When did you get to be the insightful one, ya little twit," Beyond couldn't help but playfully shove at Nell. Smiling brightly, Nell used this shove to drop down off the rafter knowing it would give Beyond a good scare. She made sure to flail about a bit before twisting through the air to land silently on her hands and feet.

"Always have been," She gave Beyond a cheeky grin before turning to exit the barn. "Ya coming, B? Cause I really need to take a shower."

"Yeah, yeah," Beyond rolled his eyes before crawling back towards the ladder. Fuck all the up high monkeying around. Life was so much easy keeping your feet on the ground. Nell really was a crazy little girl.

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AN: Do I realize it has taken my almost a full year to update this story? Yes, yes I do. And if weren't for my little sister, cumbercollected221B, you'd probably have been waiting even longer. I'm not gonna make excuses, I know I'm a horrible updater… so I tried to make this one longerish I guess…. Anywhoos, reviews are welcomed but not required. Hope you lovelies enjoyed.