MATTHEW
Just short of a week later, at the tail end of February, G turned up at the dance studio again. Matthew knew he was there when he passed Travis, who was just leaving, at the entrance to the theater.
"Hi Matt," the prince greeted him, before joining his bodyguards to depart.
"Lord Travis," Matthew replied with a nod. He found himself smiling as he turned back towards the auditorium doors. G's visits had become highlights, rare moments of complete comfort and companionship. In that, he now looked forward to them.
"Hey, how are you doing?" he said as he sat and gave G a light punch on the arm by way of greeting. It was followed by a flare of pain strong enough that it caught on the edges of his telepathy. Turning, he looked at his friend and saw a wince that was quickly replaced by a wide but strained smile.
"Just fine, my pretty peacock. What's on the docket for you today? Cordelia's claws, or the woman who can turn herself into metal trying to crush you again?" The final princess, the one that was not Cordelia and not Tuli, had shown her true colors the previous week, proving she was not satisfied with stiff silence in Matthew's presence: she had the ability to shift herself into a banded-metal form, and had shown it off as he was lowering her to the floor at a point when no instructors were around.
"Something like that," he mumbled in reply. "G, what happen to your arm?"
"What?"
"I saw you wince. I didn't hit you hard. Did you bang it up or something?"
"Or something," was his friend's muttered response. "It's nothing. Hey, Hulio's doing great, isn't he? Another single out and it's another hit, and he's got invitations to perform up UpMountain."
Matthew studied G and didn't let himself be waylaid.
"G, did someone do something to you?" He carefully extended his telepathy.
"No," came the short reply, and Matthew got what he wanted. A clear lie.
"What happened?"
"I said it was nothing."
"G, I know you are lying." G's eyes widened as he looked accusingly at his childhood friend.
"When did you start doing that? You've never picked up lies before."
"It's been coming on slowly. I guess my powers are developing further or something. Now, what happened?" Then, as an afterthought. "And how often have you been lying to me?"
G looked at him for a long moment.
"That's the sort of thing you tell a friend." Matthew was irritated he didn't get the response he wanted but couldn't argue with G's point.
"Sorry. I wasn't really paying attention. I don't use it actively." Not usually.
G looked straight ahead and stared at the stage for a long moment.
"I'll tell you, but I need a promise out of you first." Matthew sighed.
"What?"
"There are somethings I keep to myself. You need to respect that. I'll tell you this, but there are other things I won't tell you. If I ask you to back off, back off." Matthew nodded but wondered what secrets his friend was keeping.
"OK. I promise. Now what happened to your arm?"
"It got electrocuted."
"What?! How?!"
"Your friends at the military." Now G was grinning, and Matthew was not enjoying his morose humor.
"G, tell me what happened?"
"It's not 'what happened'. It's just part of the package, apparently. When they try to sus out your mysterious mutant power." The large man nodded as he said this, as if it were commonplace to injure someone in the pursuit of such a discovery.
"They electrocute you?" Matthew countered, pointedly.
"Well, they try to surprise you. To get you to use your powers without knowing it. Often, mutant abilities are discovered in moments of surprise, or fear," again the nod, "I think they may have exhausted the surprise element and are moving towards the fear spectrum. You know," his tone turned instructional, "in the past, they used electro-shock therapy for depression and other mental ailments. That's what they told me when they started. Said it might make me happier. They seemed to find that funny." The last was said with an odd mix of bitterness and satisfaction. Matthew didn't dwell on it.
"I don't know about that shit, but G, this shouldn't be leaving you in pain." The large man shrugged.
"I signed up for it."
"G-!" The man waved his hand at Matthew, dismissing the rest of the conversation.
"Mattie, at some point they will get tired of doing this and give up. It's just a matter of bearing it for now."
"Or they'll find your mutant power." And if it had value, they would want it under the military's prevue.
Again, the dismissive wave.
"We'll see about that. Hey look, here comes Eleni. And Madam Cotting right behind her. Aren't you one of the stars of this show, Mattie?"
Matthew groaned at that reminder and was only able to get a quick kiss and greeting in with Eleni before Cotting ordered him off to practice. Matthew was certain the woman would have taken him by the ear and dragged him to the studio room if it had been possible.
Worry for G lingered throughout the rehearsal, and Matthew started to wonder what other methods the military were using to tease out the man's mutant ability. He suspected G had used his comments on the electrotherapy as a front to keep the conversation from progressing further. The man left soon after Matthew started dancing, however, and there was no chance to ask.
That evening Matthew filled Eleni in on his discovery during the short break they had after dinner. Even though they had caught up in the ballet and evening rehearsals were now rare, he still wouldn't hang around that night; Matthew was finding the university work load challenging, especially when combined with his commitment to the ballet. He was up late many nights, even with going home straight after dinner.
"They're causing him pain?" Eleni exclaimed when she heard the news. "Is that necessary?"
"I don't know, but it seems excessive to me." Eleni nodded her agreement.
"Let's keep an eye on him. But, Matthew, is there anything we can do about it?" Matthew looked to the side. He didn't know. Then he thought about Selene. Her family had military connections.
"There might be something," he said slowly. "There's a former classmate of mine, Selene Allerdyce. Her family is involved with the military. I think her mother has some influence there. I'll reach out to her and see if she can pull some strings."
Eleni nodded. "If it can help G…what do you think she'll ask for in return?" Matthew hadn't thought that far.
"Some rare vintage or the like." He set that thought aside. "Um, Elle, she'll probably want me to have lunch or dinner with her. It's likely to end up in the tabloids." Eleni looked at him for a moment, then nodded.
"Thanks for the warning."
Sure enough, when he reached out to Selene, she insisted they have a meal together. He took heart in the fact that she seemed eager at the prospect: she set it up for two days later at The Mansion, an upscale hotel that people used when they spent a night out in the District and didn't want to stumble home after.
"Matthew, I am so pleased to see you again," Selene beamed at him over the intimate table-for-two, set up in one of the hotel's richest suites. Matthew tried to calm his nerves by focusing on the fact that the ultra-private setting meant this meeting would not end up in the tabloids.
"Likewise, Selene. And I brought a little thank you for taking the time out of your busy training schedule." As he said this, he pulled a cold, curved bottle with a wrapped cork out of the case at his side. Selene positively glowed with pleasure.
"Sparkling? Matthew, you are too generous." Her eyes flickered to the open bottle of white wine that was chilling to their side with a small look of dismay. "I suppose we could have both."
"No, this is one of the best, and I insist." He pulled the bottle of white wine out of its holder, and put it in the case beside him, then set to unwrapping the bottle and popping the cork.
A matter of minutes later, they toasted and set to eating the soup course that had quietly been set in front of them.
"I have to say, Selene, you do not have the look of someone who was in military training this morning." It was true: there was no sign of exhaustion on her face, and her tanned skin glowed as if it had just been massaged with oil, not lathered in sweat. Said skin was abundantly obvious, as the dress she wore was held up with thin straps and exposed a fair expanse of her chest before falling in a silver cascade. There were crystal highlights on the bodice.
Selene smiled dismissively.
"This is a rare treat, Matthew. I wanted to give you a proper welcome. And you have done the same for me." This time, Matthew was wearing the latest style, a black velvet ensemble that was tight in the shoulders but loose around the waist. Green peaked out from the top of the collar, and the gold pin on his breast, in the shape of the Summers Vineyard emblem, was the only embellishment. He had brought the outfit with him to school and changed after his morning seminar. He was skipping a lecture in order to fit this meeting into his schedule.
For a while they ate and spoke of nothing much; the state of the vineyard and the club, the latest buzz in the UpMountain, and some reminiscing from high school, though they avoided mention of Jenna which limited that topic significantly. They also spoke of nothing that brought them close to the topic of Eleni, and the ballet only came up once in passing.
Selene was quite aggressive in pouring the champagne, though Matthew remained aware that he had to return to the university for his afternoon seminar and paced himself. It was no surprise however, when Selene declared the bottle empty, and requested that Matthew return the bottle of white wine to they could start on that.
Matthew used his purpose for arranging the meeting to waylay that suggestion.
"Actually, Selene, I have a matter I thought you might have some perspective on."
"Oh?" Selene said, her interest peaked and successfully distracted from the bottle of wine. "What is that, Mattie?"
Matthew took a deep breath, knowing that this topic was likely to be unpopular with his companion. He hoped she had enough of the champagne to soften her up.
"There is an acquaintance of mine, G, we were brought in from the Wasteland together and have remained in touch," Selene's face flickered slightly. "Well, he has been working with the military to determine his mutant ability."
Selene nodded. "OK. What of it?"
"Some of the methods they are using seem a bit extreme. He is in lasting pain after these sessions." Selene stood and moved over to the window, which looked down an interior garden, as Matthew spoke.
"Mattie, they have been doing this for centuries, with great success. I think it is best left in the hands of those who are managing the project."
"But he shouldn't be leaving in pain. You must see that." Matthew pushed back from the table as he said this but remained sitting. He wanted to maintain an appearance of calm, and not seem too caught up in this issue. Leaning forward slightly in his chair, he rested his elbows on his thighs, using his body language to subtly emphasize his point. Selene looked back at him and tipped her head in partial agreement.
"It is likely they are getting to the end of their options. A sign that they will give up soon. And your friend will need to resign himself to living in the DownMountain for the rest of his life." Of course, Selene would see G's participation as an attempt to move UpMountain. Matthew didn't try to correct Selene's assumption. He sat back, suppressing a sigh.
"Well, if that is the case, then that is a relief to me. But, could you reach out to whomever is managing the program, and ask them to back off a bit in this last part of testing? I'm sure they can get the same results without going so far. I mean, they are trying to surprise his mutant ability out of him, not beat it out, right?" He laughed and was rewarded by an amused smile from Selene as she made her way back to the table.
"That might be possible, Matthew." Selene didn't return to her seat. She was coming straight towards him. Matthew realized that too late. "I'm sure we could work something out." As she said this, she sat down on his lap and draped her arm around his neck.
"Selene…," he said, wondering what was wrong with him. He had gotten into situations like this at parties and had had no difficulty tactfully maneuvering himself away. Now, however, he was frozen. He didn't want this, but his ability to laugh while he put off her advances failed to materialize. "This isn't…you know I'm seeing someone…"
"Mattie," she started, quietly, her voice soothing, "have you never thought of what we could be together? Me with the Club, you with the Vineyard? We could own this place."
"I don't want that." I don't want this. His mind still refused to work.
"Fine. You could have your dancing. You could even have her, so long as you kept it quiet. I'd take care of the rest." She cupped his chin in her hand, resting her thumb on his lips. "We'd show the Lensherrs how royalty is supposed to act. Mattie," she breathed as her head came close to his.
Then her lips were on his, and all he wanted to do was cry. He thought he was starting to tremble. What was wrong with him? Finally, he let go of trying to be tactful, and gathering Selene to him, he stood up. She pressed in closer, obviously thinking he had acquiesced. But he didn't carry her to the door which no doubt led to a bedroom: he took her to the couch at the side of the room and deposited her there. Pulling his face away from hers, he started unwinding her arms from around his neck. She was strong and it took some effort. A brush of cold that touched his skin betrayed her tempter.
"Selene, I'm not interested," he said trying to make it firm. She was speaking over him.
"Matthew Summers, you are not thinking this through. This is a bad decision. You will regret this." She stood once he managed to disengage himself and stepped close. "What if it is just this afternoon? I promise I won't ask for more…unless you come to me." Her tone suggested that he would. Her arms started to go around him again.
"No!" he yelled, startling his companion. He turned away and walked towards the door. His mind grappled to make the scene normal again. "Thank you for lunch. Please think about what we talked about." It came out automatically, and he cringed when he heard his words. Behind him, Selene swore.
"Eff you, Summers, if you think I'm ever doing anything for you. You're good for one thing, and it's about time you got that into your head!"
He was glad when the door swung shut behind him but was then assailed with self-recrimination and anxiety about how badly the meeting had ended. He hoped Selene would continue to keep it quiet. She wouldn't want anyone to know she had been rejected, and he took some comfort in that fact, but it was thin.
Eleni of course picked up on his state of mind when he arrived at the dance studio later that day.
"Matthew, what happened? Did she have the tabloids waiting?"
"No. I think it will stay out of the tabloids. But she won't help G," he focused on portraying that as the reason he was so upset. "Dammit! Why won't she do that? Are these people really so…shallow?" The anger felt good.
Eleni looked at him for a moment.
"What did she do?"
"She was a bitch. And that is all that we need to know," he said with finality.
"We'll figure something else out for G," Eleni murmured, and dropped the topic, though her eyes lingered on him. "Hey, since we've caught up, Madam P said we can have this Holday morning off. She's going to do some errands." They hadn't had a break since Eleni had become the swan.
"That sounds great," he said, punctuating each word, as he put his arms around Eleni and leaned his head on her scarf, savoring the spare moments they had before they had to return to dancing. "I'll be by around 10."
He assumed they would spend that precious time at the Atrium. However, when he arrived on the morning in question, Eleni suggested they stay in. Madam P was out doing her usual errands. Matthew found no reason to refuse and was quite content to hold Eleni on the couch and think about nothing.
Eleni seemed happy with that agenda as well and leaned into his chest from where she sat next to him, her legs pulled up beside her. One of her arms was around him, and the other was resting on his bare skin just up and under his shirt. He found himself ultra-aware of the touch, and not in the way he had been in the past. He had to remind himself that that was normal.
They sat like that with little conversation for a while and everything was ok.
"Matthew, why are they so interested in G?" Eleni asked at one point, breaking a couple minutes of silence. It took him a moment to come out of the half-reverie he'd been in, and understand what Eleni meant.
"His potential is significant."
"Really?" She sounded like she had expected a different answer.
"Mmm-hm," he replied, lazily, not wanting to put a lot of effort into anything.
"Potential…this is from Genealogy and Genetics, right? Potential and the actual mutant ability are found in two different places on the genome—so that's how they can know one but not the other."
"You've been studying," he observed.
"It is a smart thing to do," she replied drily. "But, can't they also identify mutant ability simply by looking at the genome? Like, the ability to freeze things tends to be the same between different people, things like that."
He shifted slightly, eyes closed, as he replied.
"Yes, but sometimes the mutation follows no known pattern. In those cases, it is either a known mutation that takes an unfamiliar form or it is a completely new mutation. Or," he added as an afterthought, "it's an ability that hasn't been seen for generations and they don't have it mapped." Phasing, being able to pass through physical objects like walls, remained unmapped because of that. It hadn't manifested since the Devastation.
Eleni took this in for a minute.
"This sounds terrible, but I'm glad Bright's grandmother is sick." Bright's care for their grandmother continued to keep them DownMountain. After a pause, Eleni added another comment that had clearly been on her mind. "And G did this because of me. So, he could come up here."
Matthew held her tighter for a moment, then relaxed his arm as he spoke.
"For both of us," he murmured trying to ease her sense of responsibility. "He'll be ok. They aren't trying to hurt him – they won't risk damaging someone so powerful. They are just trying to tease his ability out. And apparently it needs quite a bit of teasing." Matthew hoped that sounded convincing. He wasn't entirely convinced himself. He continued with something he was confident about. "I don't think that G would have put himself in that position without a well thought out plan. He knew this was an option long before you were here. He's done his research."
After a pause, Eleni returned to their earlier topic.
"They know the mutation of a person with a blood test as soon as they are born, right?"
"Yup."
"And the potential?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"And G's potential was enough to turn their heads…but not enough to bring him UpMountain."
She had a point.
"I don't know why things happened that way. It might have something to do with Tara…" G's comment that he had had a gun pointed at his face echoed at the back of Matthew's memory, and his heart went cold. They had never wanted his friend.
"Are you sure they'll stop, Matthew?" Eleni asked. "I don't get the sense they've ever tried to treat him better because of his potential."
"Well…," Matthew opened his eyes and shifted again stretching his body to shake off the chill. Simultaneously, he mentally reached for information that would grant him some sort of confidence. Eleni shifted in turn, sitting up and Matthew's arm came to rest around her. "…the overall mutant power level has been declining. They want to reverse that trend." He stroked Eleni's arm absently as he responded.
Eleni turned her head and their eyes met. The surprise he saw in hers told him she hadn't heard that fact before.
"Really?" Matthew nodded.
"Yeah. Apparently if you had the original Brotherhood here, they would be able to outshine us all. People don't like to talk about it," he explained, as he took in her face. In the back of his mind, he noted that he loved just being here with her. The thought warmed him. "Anyway, that must be part of why they are being aggressive in figuring out what G can do."
"And if it is something interesting, they'll use him." Matthew didn't answer that. It hadn't really been a question.
Eleni lay her head back against him, and they sat in silence for another minute, then Eleni spoke again.
"Matthew, do you ever think of leaving?"
"What? The UpMountain?"
"Or…the Montagne. You have another home out there, somewhere. With the Remnants, maybe. Couldn't you find them with your powers?"
The thought had never crossed his mind, and now that Eleni had suggested it, his first impulse was revulsion.
"Elle, the Remnants…well, people call them the Rabbits. Supposedly they live in holes in the ground, literal burrows. And they are way behind in technology and everything. Barely eking out a living. Otherwise, why would there be refugees? It can't be that good of a life with them. Even with all the shit they do here, I honestly think I'm better off."
Eleni looked away, and he sensed she was disappointed.
"It can be a good life for you, too, Elle," he said quietly. That was something he knew he could give her.
"I don't know," was all she said in reply as she dropped her head to his shoulder.
Silence fell again, but several minutes later Eleni lifted her face and leaned in to kiss him. He braced himself; it took him a moment now to get into the activity. Nonetheless, he did, and started to enjoy it, though when Eleni's hands started roaming he had to remind himself to reciprocate.
"We could go upstairs." They were sideways on the couch at this point, and Matthew kept kissing Eleni's neck to delay his response. He wondered what had happened to his girlfriend's reluctance in regards to their physical relationship.
Her hand pulled his face up to hers. "Matthew, let's go upstairs…," she said more insistently. Before their lips could touch, Matthew found himself blurting out a question he knew he had to ask, as awkward as it was.
"Elle, have you had sex before?" Eleni pulled back in surprise at the question, but then disengaged herself slightly as she nodded.
"I have."
The relief that flooded through Matthew was almost poignant.
Eleni's eyes grew sharp.
"Why are you so relieved to hear that?" He opened his eyes, wide.
"Wh-what? I'm not…" She had felt it, there was no way to deny it. He pushed himself up and turned so he was sitting forward on the couch and tried to shrug it off. "I don't know. Makes things easier, I guess."
"I thought guys liked being with…women who hadn't had sex before." He gave her a strange look, though in truth there was some kind of mystery there for some people. She didn't let him off the hook. "Not you, though."
It wasn't a question but she expected a response. He shrugged again, resigning himself to the fact that he'd have to explain the relief she had felt at his response.
"I never really thought about it…," he started, wondering how to continue. He realized distantly that he hadn't thought about it: that had been the problem.
Eleni was still looking at him, perplexed.
"Look, Matthew, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't push. But I am curious. You were distinctly relieved when I said that, and now you are embarrassed and…regretful? Hurting?" Concern entered her tone, and he guessed she was thinking his emotions related to their relationship. He sighed his frustration at how the bond had stolen his emotional privacy. Then he sat back and told the story that would get him off the hook.
"I was Jenna's first, and she was mine. It hurt her. And I felt that."
He didn't like to remember the experience. He had been 15, she 14, too young in retrospect. Everything else they had done had felt so good, so one day they just hadn't stopped. It had made it even more of a shock to suddenly feel her pain.
"I stopped when I felt her pain, but she wanted me to keep going. Like it was something she had to suffer through. That made it worse for me. It was altogether a bad experience that I don't want to repeat." They had almost broken up because Jenna had kept demanding they have sex again, but he hadn't wanted to hurt her and had continued to refuse.
His father had noticed the situation between them and asked him what was wrong. Matthew had eventually opened up. He remembered the look of chagrin on Adam's face. His father had then shared that he and Katyana had had their first experience together as well, but they had taken things slowly, and focused on working up to it. Matthew had wished he had known that.
Eventually Matthew and Jenna had worked things out, slowed things down, and he had been relieved when the pain had passed quickly for her. Then the game had been to figure out how to make her feel as good as he did when they were together. Ironically, it was those good intentions that had led to his salacious reputation.
He chuckled, a bit bitterly, at the memories, but didn't share them with Eleni. He reached out and took her hand in his, lacing the fingers together.
Eleni was nodding at his response.
"Thank you for telling me." She hesitated before continuing. "You should get tested. You know, for diseases."
Matthew was nonplussed for a moment before recalling his tryst with Jenna. Eleni was watching him to see his reaction. He sighed. She was right; she would be even if he hadn't recently had sex with Jenna. It was only wise
"I will. You should, too." She looked back at him.
"I know I don't have any diseases."
"But you just told me you've had sex. Have you ever been tested?" Eleni was quiet for a minute.
"It was only one person, and he only ever slept with me as well." Matthew released her hand and pushed his fingers into his hair at her reluctance.
"So, you want me to trust some guy I've never met before?" Eleni was silent for a minute. He thought she would ask him to trust her, but to his surprise, she didn't.
"I don't want to give anyone my blood." Ah, that.
"It's anonymous." Eleni's eyes narrowed.
"Are you sure?"
"You just smear some blood on a card, and there are a few swabs as well, then you drop it off – there are discrete locations. The card has a number. You call after a couple of days, enter the number and hear the results. It is all automated."
Eleni considered that for a moment.
"Even though it is anonymous, do they test for anything else?" Matthew shook his head.
"They aren't supposed to, and I don't think it is an area where they waste resources on extraneous testing because everyone is already covered. They really want to keep STD's down because they are a threat to the population growth, so it's a quick and dirty, but effective, test. I think it is safe."
After another moment of thought, Eleni nodded.
"OK. I'll do it."
"That leaves birth control," Matthew added. She shook her head.
"That's taken care of. I have something in me that prevents pregnancy." His brow furrowed.
"From the Citadel?" She nodded. A few more questions revealed that she had a copper IUD.
Matthew felt a mixture of relief and dread in the aftermath of the conversation. He quickly pushed the feelings away, and put his arm around Eleni, but pulled her to him so that her back was against his chest.
"I'd like it to be special," he murmured. "We could go up to the vineyard for a night. When the ballet is over, say…" He pressed his cheek against her scarf.
"Matthew…that might just make it awkward. If we get to that place…let's just let it happen."
Matthew nodded against her scarf, humming in agreement. He had put it off for today, and they were so busy moments like this were rare. Hopefully, by the time it happened, he would feel a bit more excited about the prospect of having sex with Eleni.
EBONY
"Travis. That was quite a display Alant put on for you." Ebony watched as her friend, dressed in pressed pants, a button-down shirt and bowtie today, set his bag down on the royal table, as it was called. Just a couple days ago, Travis's ex-boyfriend, though they had kept the relationship quiet, had waylaid him on the way to the cafeteria to make a very romantic, and public, display for the young lord. Everyone was waiting on Travis' response. And not just because of the romance.
Travis grunted noncommittally. Ebony bristled internally. "You can't let something like that just fall flat on its face," she pointed out.
Travis, it turned out, was prepared with a distraction.
"Hey, I memorized one of those prophecies. Why don't we talk about that instead," he replied and then started to recite:
"The Helm! The Helm!
They fly
And return us to Life.
Does that mean the Helm will be rediscovered? Or, there's the one about 'the Rocks falling.' What does it mean?"
Ebony glared at him but took the bait.
"The Rocks has already been fulfilled by a rock slide, and it's 'deliver us unto Life'," she couldn't stop herself from growling. "Travis, don't avoid the topic. This is serious." She willed her friend to see her sincerity.
Travis sighed, resigned.
"Look, Ebb, you know it doesn't make sense. I told you how it went down between Alant and I. He was fine with us keeping things quiet, but he didn't want the notoriety of being with a Lensherr. Or the compromises if we got serious." Travis shook his head firmly. "That is done." Then, after a moment of silence, he added quietly. "I know him and I know he was put up to it."
Ebony looked to the side, trying to find a way to bring her friend around. She agreed with Travis' assessment, but Alant was a Shaw, and that was not a family to snub. All Travis had to do was have a public relationship for a short period of time, then back out saying they weren't compatible. It wasn't that hard.
"Trav, look, you haven't been with anyone for a while and most people didn't know you and Alant were an item to start with. Major coup that, by the way." Injecting a bit of praise to boost the ego couldn't hurt. Travis nodded in acknowledgement. "What if you saw it as a learning experience. You know, to try being in a public relationship, to understand what it is like. You and Alant are comfortable with each other, and you'd get a bit of action. That doesn't sound so bad, right?" And it would lend some political stability to the circles, both in school and out.
Travis didn't reply for a long moment. He stared out over the cafeteria. Ebony glanced at the doors. She had only just started to realize that Travis, in positioning himself as a shield for the sewer rat, had also gained a certain amount of shielding from Ebony's questioning as well. Ebony had known he used his natural awkwardness to keep people at bay but kicked herself for not seeing his ploy with the dancer sooner. This was a conversation they couldn't have with that woman present. She cut to the chase.
"OK. I'll just say it. This is because of your DownMountain friends, in particular the time you spend with that fat fool. Your joke about needing to know your subjects because someday you might be 'subjecting' them doesn't cut it anymore. Understanding the DownMountain and its people is one thing; becoming friends with them," or more she thought but didn't say, "is another."
Travis didn't respond to that comment and continued to survey the cafeteria. Ebony wondered if he was buying time until Eleni arrived.
"Do you ever feel like it is all a lie?" Travis finally replied. Ebony nearly groaned out loud. This was not the time for philosophizing. She tried to think of a way to derail the pensive thoughts as Travis went on. "All this posturing we do. Living by the rules we made up for ourselves. Always checking ourselves to make sure we are doing the 'right' thing, and by right, I mean the thing that will keep us in favor, or popular, or powerful…"
"Travis," she snapped in an irritated reply, "people have always created structures to adhere to. It's called society. It's a basic human instinct and provides stability that allows us to succeed." Travis finally brought his gaze to his friend.
"Based on the current definition of success," he concluded, a bitter note to his tone. "But, it doesn't have to be like this. The goals are arbitrary in the end. What if we had been brought up to see something else as more important? Something other than being beautiful, or powerful, or living some ideal of a life. How would we be different?"
"I don't know," she sighed, and resigned herself to having this conversation. "I suppose we would be different. But we wouldn't be achieving the things we do. The UpMountain is a center of cultural and technological achievement. Just the fact that we managed to survive the Devastation, under Magneto's guidance, is a testament to our strength and perseverance. Mutants are ascendant, as it was always meant to be."
Travis' gaze turned hooded, but he said nothing.
"What?" She got no answer, as Travis was turning away to smile at Eleni, who had just arrived at the table. Ebony grimaced, then graced the girl with a haughty look.
"I thought I smelled something," she said, her irritation getting the better of her. In no mood to linger, she identified a clear spot across the cafeteria and teleported away.
CITADEL 3021.03.12
DAVE
Drexel Park, Dave thought to himself as he rode the trolley to his destination. It was a famous park, one of the largest in the city, and had just come into view out the window. His own visits to the park were few: it was located in Bloc 5, to the north-west of the city, and a distance from either of his parents' residences. Nonetheless, he felt like he knew it well: it had been Eleni's favorite.
They let the pine trees grow tall at Drexel, and if you stand right in the middle it feels like a forest! Or, what I think I forest feels like…
He could see the stand of pines pointing up above the walls of the park to heights that rivaled some of the residential buildings of the area. Dave breathed in deeply, and kept his eyes trained on the trees until they were blocked by a building. Coming back to himself, he decided he'd visit the park if his appointment in Bloc 5 ended early enough. The days were getting longer, and even though it was already mid-afternoon, he thought there might be enough light left when he was done.
"Star court. Star court," the automated system chirped. Dave started and scrambled to get his phone out as he stood. Glancing at it, he saw that he had overshot his destination.
"Damn," he swore softly, and ran to the door before it closed. Looking ahead down the tracks, there was no sign of a trolley coming the other direction and Dave decided to back track on foot.
Crossing to the sidewalk, he made his way down a street lined with a stately set of clean, uniform buildings. It could be nearly any other broad street in the Citadel. His eyes lazily grazed the variety of the shop windows to the left of where he was walking.
A murmur of voices caught his attention and he looked up to find a group of young men dressed roughly in leather-like materials, often edged in metal, hovering on the sidewalk ahead of him. A gang. Dave gritted his teeth. They were loitering right where he needed to go. He started to turn around, but then stopped himself. He had run away the last time he had seen a gang. Was he going to do that his entire life? Squaring his shoulders, he walked on.
"Can we help you?" one of them said, turning in his direction. The tone was respectful, though there was also an element of wariness.
"No, thank you."
"Hey, aren't you Dave Kelly?" The group shifted slightly, and a man with black hair and beige skin stepped forward. "Are you doing officer training?" There was an edge of hope to the man's voice.
"Ah, no. I'm in the law program the university. I'm here for a meeting."
The young man who had posed the question was clearly disappointed. The group parted to let him through.
A moment later, Dave was passing by a large, imposing gate that permitted entry to the walled block to his left. It was the home of the military academy, and no doubt the gangs were lingering here because they had friends within and were waiting to see them.
Sure enough, as he walked on, a man about his age and dressed in the grey-black camo of Scout garb passed by him, and then he could hear the man chatting with the gang he had just encountered. Scouts were the only element of the military that was allowed to patrol the streets, and those patrols were limited. They were often close with the gangs. Looking back, he saw that the man had taken out his handgun and was showing it to them as if it were a piece of candy. Only military personnel were allowed to carry guns in the Citadel.
Dave turned forward, feeling both disquieted and intrigued. Firearms had been banned for the general population centuries back, while the military had still been in charge. Petitions to rescind the order and return to the halcyon days of widespread gun ownership had been rejected based on evidence that such widespread ownership of the devices lead to an increase in civilian deaths. The ban was only logical: the city didn't have a disposable population anymore.
As such, Dave wasn't used to seeing someone flash a weapon with such nonchalance. He himself had held one before, on a visit to their club with his father. There had been an indoor shooting range there, and he had fired a few shots, getting mix of thrill and nausea from the kick back of the weapon.
Dismissing the thought and focusing on his goal, Dave used the gate to orient himself and determined that he would turn left at the end of the walled block. He walked on.
"Dave? Dave Kelly?" Dave turned, not immediately processing the voice that had called his name. By the time he recognized the face, it was too late to act ignorant.
Zach Kaldwell, himself dressed in military costume, though the plain button-down shirt of an officer, was coming up behind him. He had apparently just emerged from the gate and jogged to close the remaining distance between them. Dave watched him, trying to determine the best way to greet and then get rid of this man he hated; he had received a second warning from his father about taking any action after Eleni's death. Apparently, Zach had been cooperative with the investigation, though probably not entirely honest. Or so Dave assumed: Robert hadn't actually revealed the names of Eleni's attackers, but Dave had no doubt that Zach has been there.
"Zach," he said flatly. Hopefully, the man wanted to make pleasantries, and pretend like nothing had ever happened. They were fellow alum of Baybrook, and both sure to hold positions of importance and influence. Some sort of relationship, even a dysfunctional one, would probably benefit one or both of them in the future.
Sure enough, Zach asked about law school, and Dave managed a question about Zach's military ambitions. He learned that the man was on the officer track and doing well. Non-information that he could have figured out for himself.
Small talk fulfilled, the conversation fell to a lull and Dave prepared to excuse himself.
"It'll be a year in April, won't it?"
"What?" The man could hardly be referring to what Dave suspected.
"Your sister. The robbery. Such a needless waste…she was something else." The robbery: that had been the cover up for the brutal attack on two women. It had been blindingly easy to for his father to put in place, no doubt because it helped the rest of the population forget that the victims in question had ever existed.
Nausea edged Dave's stomach as his mind resisted the sincerity and regret in the man's softly spoken words. He barely kept himself in check.
"I have a meeting I need to get to," he said in clipped tones moving away, but Zach closed the distance and spoke in a whisper, the carriage of his body intent.
"Dave…there's something I want to ask you. It's just strange, but…well it's strange and you might know something."
The man's attitude was peculiar.
"What?" Dave said shortly, looking away, and hoping this would be quick.
"The gang that went to the apartment…I talked to them and they said they didn't touch her. They never even saw her. Only the mother. And there was no body."
Dave looked up as his mind processed that the man was referring to the gang who had instigated the 'robbery', and this time he couldn't deny that there was hope in Zach's eyes.
"You think she's alive?" he asked, incredulous. "What? So, you can try to attack her again?"
Irritation and guilt flashed across Zach's face.
"I never-!"
"I know it wasn't a robbery!" Dave hissed to cut off Zach's lie.
Zach went quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"I thought you might. Look, it wasn't supposed to be like that. It wasn't even my idea. And then Shan got paranoid and called the gang. But like I said, they never saw her-!"
"She's dead!" Dave yelled pushing away. A few people in proximity to them looked their way, and Dave stepped back close to Zach and managed a strained whisper. "We had no body for her mother, either, and as you just said, they remember murdering her! Missing bodies are nothing new in the Citadel, go do the research yourself. And while you're at it, remember that her blood is on your hands."
"I said that was Shan! I just wanted to talk to her!"
Dave gritted his teeth. I just wanted to talk to her. That was the line Zach had given his father, and his accomplices had stuck fast to it as well. They had just been trying to talk to her, but she had gotten worked up and in trying to calm her down her scarf had been pulled off. That was how they had seen her hair. The color had seemed odd, and everyone knows aberrant hair color is a clear marker of mutancy: it was taught in the schools.
Dave and his father had recognized the lie for what it was, but Robert Kelly had insisted that the story must stand: there was no evidence of anything else. Not to mention the fact that in return for not pressing the investigation further, the three young men had agreed that they had mistakenly identified Eleni as a mutant. All they had seen in the end was a brief view of her bared head in a dim alley, they really couldn't be sure there had been anything odd. Robert Kelly had been persuasive in that, especially when bolstered by everyone's desire to keep the incident quiet.
Dave fought to keep some semblance of calm, as the injustice of the situation ate at him. He firmly told himself that a shouting match on the street was no good, but he found he couldn't let it go.
"Talk? Oh, and that's all you wanted to do that time with the transport, right?" Zach became defensive.
"You're making shit up now." The man growled, side stepping the accusation.
"OK then! How about the time you tried to pull her into a building? I saw that," he said in a low growl, throwing concrete evidence back at the man. Anger and frustration flooded Zach's face.
"I just needed to get her alone, to get her to see reason! She wasn't listening."
Dave fought to control his own temper as he recalled the first time Zach had tried to 'get her alone.'
"Dave, we are going to be late."
Dave smiled distractedly down at his girlfriend. They were in the near deserted courtyard outside their schools, him leaning against a wall and she seated on a stone wall next to him. They were supposed to meet up with Corella's crowd at the Boutiques, a trendy section of the city that had café's tucked in among a variety of retail shops. Dave wanted to do anything but go, however he hadn't made any progress on finding an acceptable way to leave her in the week since the conversation with his father, and as things stood, he saw no other option.
"It'll be fine," he assured her, distractedly. "We didn't say we'd be there at a certain time or anything." He focused once again on his subject. Zach was also lingering, in spite of the fact that most of his friends, who were also Dave's friends in large part, had disappeared to other locations.
For the first time, Dave was thankful his recent bid for student council president had failed. He had run for re-election, but his new association with the Humanists had lost him numerous votes. Apparently, the students worried he would start doing things like pushing for Humanist readings in the classroom, or further restricting their activities based on the Humanist version of propriety.
At the time, Dave had been bitterly disappointed. It was another thing that was going wrong in his life, like his inability to break up with Corella, the increasing pressure he was receiving from her family to show some movement towards accepting their beliefs, and the fact that Eleni was absent from his days. He had signed up for a law exam prep course to distract himself from his disappointment, and that would be starting in a week.
Now, however, that feeling was reversed because it gave him the time to help keep Eleni safe. She had returned to school the day before, at the start of the new week.
"Dave, we should really go." Irritated, he pulled his thoughts back to his secondary plan: using this time as another attempt to ease himself from Corella's grip.
"Cory, what we were talking about—"
"Dave, I thought we were done with that."
"I was not. We've tried this, and you and I work well together, but I simply cannot come around to some of your Humanist beliefs."
"Some of them. But you are admitting there are others you would consider. That is all I ask."
"You, perhaps, but your family is not so patient."
"Dave, I am talking to them. They are facing the same difficulties as you, albeit from a different direction, but in their hearts, they are accepting people and I know it will work out. Please, give them some more time!" Dave sighed in frustration. He liked Corella and didn't want this to end badly as his relationship with Heather had. He decided to be clearer.
"Corella, I'm not going back to your—" Just then Eleni emerged from the school. He wondered what had kept her, then he thought he understood as Zach moved towards her. She had been trying to wait him out. Dave's stomach went tight.
Eleni walked quickly from the courtyard. Zach trailed behind, not trying to catch up with her.
Dave stood up. Corella grabbed his arm. When he looked down at her, he saw her face had gone dark.
"Dave we were talking," she said, in spite of the fact that she had tried to stop the conversation from continuing a moment ago.
"I have to go."
"Dave, don't you dare follow her. You've been so good, keeping your distance."
"My sister is in danger."
"I saw no danger. She is just going home. It is best if you don't associate with her. Our relationship will not survive that."
Then so be it.
He pulled his arm free from Corella's grasp and backed away from her spreading his hands in silent explanation. Then, trying not to see her face crumple, he turned away.
He raced out of the courtyard, ignoring the glances that came his way from the few remaining students there. He felt bad for Corella, but she wasn't at risk of being assaulted.
At the street, he craned his neck, and gave ironic thanks that Zach was so tall, as he only just caught the man's head turning a corner in the direction of the business district. Eleni went that direction most days, but occasionally went straight to her apartment, which was in a different direction.
Racing down the sidewalk, dodging other pedestrians as he went, he rounded the corner, and located Zach again. The man had crossed the street. Dave quickly did the same.
Dave reached a distance of about 15 feet behind Zach and stayed there, keeping an eye on him and letting the crowds provide some measure of concealment. After the next bend, at the edge of the financial district, the tall man suddenly picked up his pace, and Dave lost sight of him for a moment.
Running again, he caught up and spotted Zach grasping Eleni's arm at the elbow and pulling her off the sidewalk into the entryway of a building. The man had gripped her in an inconspicuous manner, and Dave suspected no one else around them realized anything was wrong. Why wasn't Eleni fighting him off?
"Elle!" he yelled at the same time that Zach crumpled over. Eleni broke free, turned and started moving away, right towards Dave. Dave breathed out in relief and slowed down, but her eyes widened in shock when she saw him, and he realized she hadn't heard him call out.
"I have to go," Eleni said rapidly as she rushed past. Dave looked back to where she had come from to see Zach limping in their direction, frustration and pain on the tall man's face. Then the man saw Dave and stopped. Dave glared at him before turning to follow Eleni. He caught up with her a block later.
"Elle. Eleni! What happened?" She tried to shrug him off.
"It doesn't involve you, Dave."
"Look. My dad told me Zach was paying attention to you and you didn't want it. I was keeping an eye out. So, it does involve me."
"Maybe I don't want it to involve you! Just go back to your girlfriend."
"We broke up," he said through clenched teeth, trying to keep up with Eleni who was walking through the crowd as fast as she could. Their conversation came in fits and spurts as Dave dodged people and tried to stay by Eleni's side. "Elle, I'm walking you home, or to the office, from now on."
She said nothing and they walked for several more blocks in silence. Then she turned off onto a less busy street.
"Elle, I'm worried for you. I don't want to see you get hurt," he said, following, and glad it was easier to talk.
She continued to ignore him, and suddenly turned off the sidewalk. Dave stopped walking in surprise and turned to see her ascending up the steps of a nondescript apartment building. He realized that this was where she lived. His dad visited Eleni and her mom at home from time to time, but Dave only had vague memories of doing that when he was a toddler, and Eleni had lived in a different apartment then.
"Elle, please, I just want to talk to you!" he called out, but it was in vain. She disappeared into the building without so much as a backward glance.
Defeated, but relieved she was safe, Dave turned back towards the main boulevard. As he went, he took out his phone.
"Dad, something happened."
Dave's heart bled as his mind snapped back to the present. But the emotion that cut him also gave him clarity of thought.
"'To get her to see reason?'" Dave asked, contempt thick in his tone. "And were you going to do that before or after you raped her?" Zach flinched.
"It wasn't like that! And if you hadn't started sticking your nose where it didn't belong, it would never have gotten so…disgusting! You're the reason I brought Shan on. That's not what I wanted!"
"Not what you wanted? And that makes it better somehow?" Dave laughed, incredulity coloring his attitude. "I can't believe this. After all you did, you're standing here talking like you feel bad, or you actually miss her – you've even got some sick delusion that she's still alive for Christ's sake! How about we talk about what she wanted? Which was not you! No matter how you try to explain it away, anything you did to her was by force!" Dave's voice rose again, and Zach decided he had had enough.
"Forget this. I thought you might be sympathetic, being her brother and all. I thought you might actually care." The tall man turned away.
Dave stepped forward and grabbed his former classmate.
"You have no right to miss her or to claim you care!"
"It's none of your business, Kelly. I should never have come over."
"Yeah, you're right about that, but you started this and now I want answers. How? How can you act sympathetic when you had planned to rape her, and maybe did for all I know? What really happened in that alley?"
Zach pressed his lips together. A vein stood out on his forehead.
"I didn't—!" he started, and Dave cut off another lie.
"Forget that then. Let's move on to how your actions led directly to her death?! How do you feel no responsibility for that?"
"I told you, that wasn't me! I went to the garda and cooperated with your father's questions to try and stop it all!" He pursed his lips again and looked away. "But it was too late."
"What, you see yourself as some sort of failed savior?" Dave couldn't believe the depth of this man's delusion.
"I tried to stop it. I was there that day to protect her!"
"I don't believe that. You only ever saw her as a whore." Dave found himself flinching at the word, but was satisfied when Zach did, too. "You thought you were getting what you were due. You didn't try to stop anything!"
"You're wrong! I saw her as she really was! So beautiful, so refined! I was going to give her everything she ever wanted. Everyone knows how your father stuffed her and her mother into a dingy hole and gave them only scraps! I would have given her a good life. I just needed to get her to see that!"
Dave found himself cursing his father, even knowing that Eleni's mother had always insisted that they keep their life simple and refused extravagant gifts, just as Eleni herself had.
"Oh yeah, so you were just going to set her up to live the life she pleased? Maybe take her to a movie from time to time? Raping her wasn't part of that?!" The man didn't even flinch this time.
"If only you and father hadn't put ideas in her head. She should have understood that that is the way things worked, and that I was the best option she had!" He shook his head, placing all the blame squarely on Dave's shoulders. "But you got involved and things went wrong! If you'd just left well-enough alone, it would have worked out; I never would have pulled Shan in and things wouldn't have gotten out of hand!"
Their faces were inches from each other, and Dave found he had no words to mend the man's faulty grasp of reality. There was an intensity to Zach his mind refused to understand.
"I would have kept her secret," the man hissed suddenly. "She was clearly no danger. I would have given her a good life and kept her safe! If you had just minded your own business, she'd be alive and well and with me, today!"
The man's attempt to transfer the blame simultaneously gutted and empowered Dave, and from that open sore, words he didn't understand but knew to be true emerged.
"The life you would have given her would have destroyed her."
Zach's face twisted in fury. "Eff you, Kelly," he hissed, and he roughly pushed his adversary from him and stalked back to the gate. This time, Dave let him go.
Breathing deeply, Dave started walking, only to realize a minute later that he was going in the wrong direction. It took him a few seconds of deep breathing to recall why he was in Bloc 5, and then realize that he was now late for his meeting. Resigned, he nonetheless made his way to the apartment to make a show of good-will.
His mind still refused to settle, however. He struggled with Zach's emotions in regards to Eleni's death, and the man's delusion that she still might be alive. Something about entire interaction made him ill.
Pushing the feeling aside, he continued on his way. As he went, he found himself mentally affirming that there was no similarity between himself and Zach Kaldwell.