Chapter Three: Words in the Dark
"Liddle bitch finally came through for us, eh Toynbee?" Rakla asked the shadow as he lit a cigarette, thrusting the pack into the darkness.
A gloved hand came out and took it, and moments later a flame flared, and Toynbee sat with the cigarette in his hand and the smoke trailing from between his lips as he answered," She did. Why's she a bitch, Rak?"
" Just is," Rakla shrugged. " Acts like she's queen of the fuckin world just 'cos she can go outside. So Miss High an' Mighty is a little less fucked up in the face than us… don't mean she's got to act like she don't worship the needle, same as everybody else. I been here longer than most of you, an' I seen some very strong people crash an' burn, my friend. Maybe she ought to be a liddle more humble."
Toynbee didn't reply, but sat smoking reflectively, peering out of the darkness to where Gaelie sat, as always by the window, her long raven hair oddly healthy in the sickly glow of the lamplight. It cascaded down her back like a river of obsidian.
" Fuck off now, Rak," he said. "I wanna talk to her."
Rakla nodded, getting up to leave. His eyes smiled falsely at Toad. " 'Ope you give that bitch a good lesson in proper behaviour, Morty. I'll be rootin' for ya."
" Just shut up and piss off. And don't call me Morty," Toynbee hissed dangerously, and Rakla took his leave without another word. As he passed Gaelie he hissed something at her, and her gaze turned to Mortimer, her brows furrowed. Carefully she picked her way across the room and joined him.
" What's up? Rakla said you wanted to teach me a lesson…" She could not hide the fear in her voice.
" Ignore Rakla," Toynbee answered. " I just wanted to talk to you."
She nodded, the nervousness leaving her face, leaving it beautiful and smooth again. The ring in her lip glinted in the light as she ran her tongue across it thoughtfully, waiting for him to speak. Finally he did.
" I've been having dreams, Gaelie. Important ones. I know you too believe in the significance of dreams."
" Yes, I do."
He seemed pleased. " Good… of course you do. Then you'll understand why I must ask this of you, and hopefully you'll answer me truly."
" I… I'd never lie," she faltered, and felt heat in her face.
" Gaelie, tell me how you came to be here. Lorne said you were here long before I was, but I never got a chance to ask him how this whole group came to be. The night he was coming back to tell me the story was the night he died. I want to know why you haven't left this horrible place."
Gaelie gasped. " I didn't know you felt this way about it!"
" Don't act so surprised," he snorted. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately; more than I have done since I've come here. And I have come to wonder why I have to stay here, slave to the needle, and why my willpower has been robbed of me."
Gaelie cast her eyes downward, sighing. " Lorne came to me, much as he had to you, I'm sure," she said softly. " I had run away from home; my mother had died; she committed suicide when she found out about my…powers…and my father was a bad, bad man, and loved me in the wrong way. It seemed like Lorne could see the entire world at once, and so he somehow found me only two days after my departure and knew how desperate I was.
" He took me back here, and gave me the needle, and it felt so good in my veins, you know? And he kissed me and said, 'May you forget all your troubles, Gaelie.' And I did, at least for a while. Not terribly long after that, you came along, and Lorne seemed to forget about me. You became the second in command, so to speak; he loved you most. I have to admit… I was angry that you were with him in his final moments and not me; I didn't understand why you chose that night to leave the flat, and it turned out to be Lorne's last. I still don't, in truth. He was like a father to me, you know."
" I do know," Mortimer said softly. " He was so much to me as well. I am sorry you could not have been with him in his passing."
Gaelie blinked back tears, letting the silence comfort her. After a while she asked, " How did he die? We were never told."
Mortimer smiled, but the smile never touched his eyes. For the first time in a very, very long time he made to stand up. Gaelie, shocked, rushed forward into the shadow to help him.
" Come," said the mutant known as Toad. " Come with me, into the night. There we shall talk."
Without another word she helped to lead the half-blind mutant out the door of the room he had not left since the night Lorne had died, and together they disappeared into the night.
The blind eyes of a legion of Forgotten followed them, feral teeth bared. In their midst, Rakla regarded their departure with his hand in the pocket of his tattered overcoat, feeling the slick metal there, promising an end to traitors.