Todd sat quietly in his bunk in the tiny cubic cell, knees hugged tightly to his chest in the darkness. In a few hours he would be told that he was going to die, and the exact time and date that it would take place. He had no illusions that the jury would offer him leniency in the form of a life sentence or anything lesser than death. Mr. Parma had been honest with him from the get go, but Todd had already known before that, deep in his heart.
Todd had killed a human. It didn't matter that the human had come at him with a knife, that the human wasn't drunk or high and fully aware that he was going to try to kill the mutant. All that mattered was that Todd had kicked him a little too hard, misjudging the amount of force needed to get him safely out of blade range. The man had hit the wall with a sickening, meaty sound and fallen bonelessly to the ground. Todd had called 911 on his cell phone, and done everything he could to save the man. That hadn't mattered either. He'd died, and Todd had done it. Todd was a mutant. There was no way he could pretend otherwise. His skin almost passed, but almost didn't count. Smoother than any humans, with a faintly greenish tinge under the regular flesh tone. His cheeks a little too wide, and the green tongue that he couldn't hide and still speak clearly, not to mention that it could extend fifteen feet long. And the long, powerful legs on an otherwise slender and weak looking frame, ending in feet a little too large for his height. His hands were also a little large, both oversized to absorb the impact of his landings from the leaps, as well as allow him to cling to walls and ceilings via a sticky secretion. Oh yeah, and though they couldn't see it, while he was cataloguing his mutation, he might as well consider the slime he could spit at will.
That was the heart of it, really, being a mutant who couldn't pretend to be anything else. Thanks to a bunch of freelancing lunatic mutants killing a few people three years ago, everyone else was paying. There had been a time when Todd had thought that Xavier had been right, that it would be okay. And things had been going so well, thanks to careful propaganda and media manipulation mutants were accepted, even liked for a while. Until the mutant murders. Which changed America greatly.
Magneto and most of the Brotherhood Todd had grown up belonging to had taken off for Genosha, making it a haven for mutants only. No X-gene, no entry. Todd had been invited, and wondered if staying behind had been such a great idea. But...he just couldn't leave as long as she was still here. He pulled the worn photograph they let him keep out of his pocket, holding it up to the faint rays of streetlight coming in through the tiny barred windows high in the wall. It was just enough to make out her smiling next to him, one arm around his shoulders with the other flashing a V sign at the camera. His own arm had been around he waist. All he really needed to see, that smile.
He hadn't wanted to leave her, hurt her by ending their freindship. He'd been in love with her practically since the first day they really met. And it had never mattered to him that she only saw him as a friend, it had been enough.
She'd been one of those goody geeks living at the Institute, but that one day in class he'd realized that even they had prices to pay sometimes as he watched her struggling to get through their math class. Her face had been paler than Rogue's, with a determined set look masking the pain. He'd seen that expression on Lance during one of his powers-induced headaches, and knew by the way she kept her head down on her arms most of class that she had to be in a lot of pain. So he'd given her the bottle of aspirin he kept around in case of run-ins with Matthews and his fellow jock-bullies.
After school she'd given it back, thanking him sweetly. He never really knew why, but she'd ended up sitting with him under the old oak just talking. About their mutations, about how they ended up where they were, about what they though the future would be like.
She'd charmed him. No matter how bad it had been for her, and her life had been nearly as messed up as his, she was still glad to be alive. It rubbed off on him a little, when she was around he was glad to be alive. That was what he'd first fallen in love with, that simple feeling of joy to be breathing. The more he got to know her, the more he'd liked her. She'd even gone so far as to slap Duncan Matthews quite publicly over beating him up once, and made it clear she would personally ruin the life of anyone who messed with him. It hadn't worked completely, but it had greatly reduced the amount of people who picked on him.
He'd often wondered what she would say if he'd asked her out, told her the truth about how he felt, but he never did. One too many times being reminded exactly how ugly he was, how worthless, how unwanted had held him back no matter how close she let him. Now, seven years out of high school, he realized he should have tried. If she thought those things, she wouldn't have been his friend. Or spent nearly all of her free time with him on the porch of the Brotherhood home or the nearby shore, talking and playing and laughing with him.
Those had been the best moments of his life. Telling her good-bye had been the worst, he'd ripped his own heart out and tossed it on the floor. But he knew something like this would happen someday, and couldn't bear the thought of dragging her down with him. Arica played by the rules, hoping that by proving she could walk the lines they gave her that mutants weren't so bad, that she could change the world.
And people loved her. She was all over the internet, tv, magazines. Xavier held her up to the world as a shining example of who mutants were, carefully keeping the spotlight on the pretty Arica Jenner and away from the stranger mutants like himself or Kurt Wagner.
He knew what a burden it was on her though, and wondered if Xavier even cared. Sometimes it had seemed to him that he was the only one that had cared about her just for her. She had to be always surrounded by people these days, never allowed a moment to herself anymore. Arica had often spent long hours alone, or just with him by the sea, admitting that having too many minds around her all the time gave her incredible headaches, and it got harder and harder to keep them out of her own. The price for the power of her telepathy. He'd gotten it, understood how bad it could be, taken her to the secluded cove that they'd never seemed to see anyone else in. Those had been good times too, laying in the sand under the afternoon sun just breathing in the salt-tinged air.
Then she'd shown up at his sentencing hearing, when the judge called for anyone who would speak in his behalf to form a line and speak. She'd gone up right after Mr. Parma, and spoke for three hours in eloquent lines of caring and redemption, pleading for his life. He'd never seen her work so hard for anything, a warmth inside that this was all for him. Right along the anger at her for risking the public's love that kept her safe by defending a convicted murderer. Even if he hadn't exactly murdered anyone in cold blood.
Todd had never really had a break in his life since the day his mutation started showing up, changing his body and face so that just looking at him was enough to tell people exactly what he was. He hadn't expected one now, either. He'd known the verdict would be guilty, the jury ruled by fear. He knew the sentence would be death, he'd seen the same fear on their faces. The only break he was likely to get was that this state had lethal injection, which supposedly wasn't painful like gas or frying in the chair.
He would just go to sleep, dream forever. Which wasn't so bad either. He wanted to live, really he did. More than anything he wanted to go back to his small little house, his small car, and his ordinary life that he'd built for himself. But at least the fear of discovery, of the FoH or some other offshoot of organized hate came bursting through his door to maul him. Or worse.
And maybe he'd been good enough to get to Heaven, right? It was a hope, which was pretty much all he had left.
Finally the guard came for him, a sympathetic look on the older man's face. Henry Anderson remembered the days when black men like him got the same raw deal, and he felt for the boy, looked out for him. Kept Todd from getting to beat up by the other prisoners, or any of the worse things that happened in here. Gave Todd a book or two to pass the time, and smuggled him in pictures of Arica he printed off his computer, that now lined the wall by the tiny cot.
Todd smiled a little for him, rising to his feet and accepting the metal handcuffs placidly. If all he had left was a little dignity, he would hold onto it and face this bravely. He got in the transport van willingly, sitting in the middle to watch the sights of the city that he'd been born in pass by on the way to the Courthouse. New York City, where it had all began was where it would end. It was a strange comfort, but he'd take any sort he could get. He followed Henry into the building, through a few hallways, back into the courtroom again. His sunken eyes lighting up in delight as they scanned the spectaters.
She was there! Sitting in the front row, right behind the chair he would sit in. Her eyes were red lined and puffy, and his heart twisted painfully that she was hurting. But other than that she looked good, healthy and whole. And still beautiful. The pretty blond mutant that ruled his heart, trying to look brave. He knew the difference in her face between real emotion and false fronts. She was trying to be brave for him. He smiled at her, she managed to smile back.
Then they were forcing him in the chair, and going through the formalities. Todd didn't really listen, he just turned around to stare into her dark eyes. i Can you hear me, Ari?/i
She nodded almost imperceptibly, crossing her arms on the wooden barrier between them and placing her chin on them, staring up at him. i I hear you, just like always, /ishe answered him, her mental voice soft and a little pained, tinged with fear.
iIt's going to be all right, Ari. I know what they're going to say, just like you do. And it's all right, don't grieve, okay? Just remember me?/i
Her eyes went even darker, turning from the warm cinnamon to almost black with rage. iDon't grieve? They are martyring you! The damn bloody cowards are going to sacrifice you to their fear and their bigotry! You...you're the best friend I've ever known, I will never stop grieving for you, and I will never, ever forget even a single moment. /i
Todd's eyes widened as he took in the tears welling in her eyes through her anger. In the back of his mind where she couldn't listen now for fear of triggering the mutant detectors with her abilities and risk being accused of influencing the court, he realized he should have told her. Maybe she would have taken a risk and tried to love him. It was a sweet daydream in any case, he mused.
Arica leaned forward a little more, one hand carefully stretching forward to catch the hand he reached back as far as the wrist restraints would allow him, their fingers tangling. iI won't leave you alone in this,/i she whispered into his mind, flooding him with support and warmth.
iThank you, Arica,/i he answered, listening to the date of his death. Just like they'd both known, the jury had given in to fear. He would die in seven days. A keening wail broke from behind him, and he realized it was Arica screaming at the jury. She'd leaped to her feat, still holding on to him, screaming at them in fury and denial. He just sat there, accepting his fate with as much calmness as he could hold on to. He wouldn't let Arica see him fear, he wouldn't add to her pain, he could be afraid later in his cell. And, it was kind of a relief, no more uncertainty. Now that it was out there in the open, he could accept it and let go.
Surprisingly, they had the grace to look ashamed now that the deed was done, in the face of their heroine's anger. "How many bloody times have I risked my life for you?" she was yelling at them. "And all I ever asked in return was some kindness! His life is not irredeemable! I know him! I've known him since I was sixteen! None of you have so much as met him before! What do you know!"
Mr. Parma was trying to calm her, but she kept screaming at them until Todd stood up, facing her and reaching out for her. Then her arms were around him, her face buried in his chest as she just held on, his arms around her as best he could.
Eternity passed in a single moment for them, then he was being pulled away from them. For one horrifying moment Arica's eyes had narrowed ferally, Todd could literally feel the energy coiling just under his skin through his fingertips. "Ari, no!" he whispered desperately. "Don't throw your life away for me!"
The energy dissipated harmlessly, but her eyes remained fixed on him until they'd pulled him away, and he couldn't for the life of him understand what she was thinking. There was something strange in her eyes. He hoped they let her see him one more time before...before it was over. He had a lot to tell her before he died.