A/N: I'd like to take this opportunity to install the disclaimer I forgot previously. This will stand for the rest of the series. I don't own a scrap of any X-men universe. So there.
Also, this one is kinda sad. Just thought I'd warn you.
The Lost and Unseen: Demon and It
This place was dark, lit by what illumination escaped into it through slotted windows the occasional times when the door-above was opened.
A small boy, around five or so in age, perhaps close to six by now, sat curled in a far corner. Unlike a normal Human child he had a burnt-tan fur all over him, his hair was the same color but longer and roughly cut. Almost oversized triangular ears were perched on the top of his head and wide golden eyes watched the only other occupant of this cellar.
He was only known as 'Demon', a name his grandfather had given him the day he'd been born. He had a registered name he just never knew it. His mother was a mere teenager, her father didn't think his daughter should have to bear the burden of a child, much less a mutant one.
The other one was a second child to Demon's mother and male as well but more deeply mutated than even the older brother. The less than a year old baby was covered in gold-green scales and was shaped more like a lizard than a Human. He could even skitter across the floor on all fours when he was active. Red glimmering eyes darted around spying a cricket.
Most of the time 'It', as the poor boy was known, stayed near the water heater to stay warm. He was truly cold-blooded but showed as much affection for Demon as any mammalian creature.
Footsteps above them and a few muffled sounds were all these two children knew of the world-above. Demon spoke broken English, It spoke none. At least once a day their grandfather came down to give them something to eat and drink and to take away waste.
The man might not like the state he found hid grandchildren to be in. He might have hated them with all his heart, but they were his daughters' children. She had begged for their lives and he had agreed. It didn't keep him from trying to beat the evil out of them in any case.
The cellar door came open sending in light that was almost too much for either of the children's eyes. It fled into a shadowed corner with a flourish of claws and tail, Demon curled his own tail around his leg and stayed still.
Heavy footsteps descended, the man stopped halfway down the steps. "Boy, come here."
Demon clenched his jaw but obeyed. If he didn't it might be worse. He yowled loudly when his grandfather grabbed the scruff of his neck and lifted him.
"Boy, I don't know what you did, but you must have done something."
Demon cringed. "Demo, do, nothing." He said shakily. He was capable of slightly better speech but fear hampered him at the moment.
"Nothing, I guess that's what I should expect." He flung the boy back down the steps.
The feline Mutant landed on all fours with a sudden twist of his body. The landing still hurt from the concrete floor. He bounded deeper into the dark closer to It.
The man came all the way down stalking across the basement. He paced a little looking disappointed. "You two are the biggest lie God ever created. You're unholy, disgusting, stupid little creatures." He stop pacing and reached into the corner for It.
Demon knew his small brother had little chance against a direct hit from their grandfather. His bones were very flexible and had more than once broken after a nasty fall. He also knew that It had developed a vicious set of fangs that were strangely hollow.
"Stop squirming damn it and get what's coming to you!"
"No! It! No!" Demon leapt at the man teeth bared. His retractable claws bit deep causing his grandfather to fling him hard to the floor.
"Little bastard. I oughta...OW!" He pulled the lizard child from his arm where a few rips were now in his skin. "God damn it." He threw the small boy but with less force than he'd thrown Demon.
The older boy slunk over to It peering at his younger sibling carefully. "It?"
Red eyes came open and It made a hiss to prove he was alive. He flipped onto his belly letting a forked tongue flicker out. He rather liked the taste of blood.
For a moment Demon was afraid of what would happen next, but his grandfather was acting strangely. He was clutching the bite mark and sounded as if he were choking.
The mark had become a brutal purple color. He was spitting up blood in tremendous amount already as the Mutant venom coursed through him making every vessel in his lungs explode with amazing force.
"Granda?" Demon asked. He drew back when the man fell over drooling a thick yellow liquid along with the oddly dark red blood.
The boy felt sick. He'd never experienced death before; he had literally no idea what had just happened.
"Granda?" His voice was more frightened. He nearly jumped out of his fur when It gave him a push with his head.
It scuttled over his grandfathers body and up the stairs, stopping midway to eye his brother.
As soon as his senses came back to him Demon followed but more slowly. The bright lights of midday stung his eyes.
Everything was so strange. The light, the color, the lack of ceiling. It scared him to the point that he almost darted back into the cellar.
But It was less impressed by the newness. He raced into the backyard with without abandon making Demon chase after him. He became a little frustrated when he ran headlong into a chain link fence covered in something long and green.
Demon crouched by this fence staring at his brother. "What?" He asked quietly.
It whipped his tail in several seemingly random directions then nudged at the fence.
The cat-boy eyed the fence and gripped it with a hand. "Up?"
In response It lifted himself and grasped the fence pulling. It didn't get very far. His body was not build for vertical climbing. He hissed lowly, angry at the obstacle.
Demon crawled a little farther down the fence until he came to a place that had none of these green attachments. It was a gate with a simple latch. He'd never seen one before but it was an obvious way out.
It trundled closer curious as to what his brother had found.
Demon took hold the gate and shook it, nothing happened. He pulled down on the latch, again nothing happened. He pulled harder and got more frustrated finally pushing up in anger. It flipped up nearly taking off a finger.
The gate creaked open enough to be noticed.
Both boys stared a moment until It nosed it open farther sliding out of the back yard into another yard that had no fence of it's own.
Neither of them knew what to expect. Their life had been limited until now, but this place had to be better. Hadn't it?
The sound of many voices drew Demon out towards the street. He paused and glanced back at It who had startled a rabbit out of it's hiding place. The animal had made a clean get away leaving It to pad back to his brother.
Demon stood up straight to get a better look. A few trails of people he'd never even thought could exist disappeared around a corner towards the voices. They looked very interesting but very frightening.
The boy crouched by his brother. "Much, like Ganda. Go?"
It didn't respond and was already on his way towards the sounds.
Demon followed and was amazed at what he saw. There were so many people. He had no concept of what number there might be much less that there were actually other people than his Granda.
His sensitive ears had already picked up a main voice that was speaking to this mass of people. He could understand a little but not much.
"The threat is all around us! How many of you want to see your children fall victim to this? It's a disease that we need to eradicate!"
Several people in the crowd nodded and yelled their approval. This was an Anti-Mutant rally.
It had lost his earlier bravado and had curled behind his brother as they walked.
Demon glanced up at each of the faces around him. No one seemed to notice the pair of severely mutated children in their midst. That was until Demon bumped into a little girl.
The two locked eyes. One pair a misty green the other a thick gold with oval pupils.
They stared a long moment until the girl pulled on her mothers sleeve. The woman looked down at her daughter then into the direction the girl pointed.
On instinct the woman jerked the child from the abomination before her screaming wildly.
The crowd turned as one. Several people cursing and jumping away from the apparent mutants.
Demon crouched low terribly afraid of all the sudden movement. It hissed darkly at anyone who even looked as if they were coming too close.
"Someone grab 'em!" A voice called out.
Demon, a warm-blooded creature with a higher center of balance, was able to dart out of anyone's immediate grasp. It was not so lucky, his awkward limbs and low-slung body made for a slow get away, he was grabbed up with little effort.
Unfortunately for his holder his neck had an amazing reach.
The bite was deep and started to purple almost immediately. Another person from the crowd advanced to help retain the thrashing Reptile-boy, still another came into the fray when the bite victim convulsed and coughed up blood.
Madness erupted at the sight. People backed away farther, a few approached to help hold It down or to capture Demon.
The older boy found himself encased in arms. His pupils contracted to mere slits as he bit and scratched his way free. A few screams of pain and he landed hard on the ground.
A sudden sharp snap made the men holding It fall still.
The silence was unexpected as a few backed off. A scale-covered tail gone limp was the first Demon saw. The next was his brother's neck hanging at an odd angle.
Still breathing hard from fighting for freedom he suddenly couldn't inhale. Visions of his grandfather still and unmoving, the unnatural way he didn't breath.
"It, it was an accident." The last man holding It said.
A few police had made their way into this loose knot of people but stopped at the sight of one dead man in the street and a large dead lizard that almost looked Human.
"It?" Demon hobbled forward, no one touched him. They were afraid he might be poison as well. His little hands gripped at the green-gold body shaking it. "It?" It would have been heart wrenching to those around him if they weren't so terrified.
Demon felt his eyes sting. Something deep inside broke in half, something he could not fathom a name for.
A sharp keening sound split the air then vanished but the boy still appeared to be screaming.
A few pairs of glasses splintered, a hearing aid all but exploded in an elderly mans ear. The streetlight above them crackled and busted, showering everyone below it in bits of sturdy glass. A security system in a nearby car went off as its safety glass splintered into a lateral stress pattern. Several people bent over in pain until almost all of them had gone to their knees.
He inhaled sharply about to let loose another pain ridden shriek when something crashed into his head. A man from the crowd held a bat over him, he could barely see it as his vision faded in and out.
"God damn mutant demon!" The man shouted about to strike again. Another man grabbed his arm stopping him.
"It's a kid Frank! Jesus, it's only a kid!" The other man tried to wrestle the bat from him.
Eventually a police officer had shaken off the effects of the scream enough to get in the middle of it. He got landed with a nasty left hook.
Demon struggled to get up. Red dripped down his face onto the ground. His head ached like the time his grandfather had thrown him against the wall for not eating some bad tasting food. He suddenly stopped crawled and retched, nothing came up and it didn't help the pain.
He tried to crawl again, towards It. He attempted to say his brothers' name but couldn't get his jaw to work. The world darkened a little, he barely noticed that he'd fallen over.
The voices dimmed and the pain bled away spreading from him like the gentle pool that gathered around his head. He almost heard a woman scream to get an ambulance but it didn't matter.
He was back in the dark where he belonged.
* * *
They sat around the TV, a few of them crying, others trying not to. The news had come on less than ten minuets ago and already the entire mansion knew.
"The mutant children, identified as Marcus Leftlin and Daniel Leftlin had wandered into an anti-mutant rally earlier today." The News anchorwoman wore red and spoke in an even tone. "The Daniel, with reptilian mutations, was the first captured. The child apparently had a venomous bite and killed a rally member while trying to escape. Witnesses say it took only seconds for," She paused to get the name right. "Willard Groutman, to die. Marcus, with apparent feline mutations, was beaten to death. Both men responsible for the children's deaths are in custody but it unsure to what length the law will go to punish them."
All of them knew that the men would probably get off with a fine. It was an unspoken thing that night. The life of a mutant, their lives, meant nothing to the 'normal' people. The proof was written in the blood of two children now.
"In related news the boys grandfather Charles Leftlin was found in his basement dead of the same venom carried by his grandson. Most disturbingly police found evidence that the boys had been kept down there for some time. Officials suspect that Mr. Leftlin had been abusing them and in a struggle Daniel bit his grandfather granting the two escape."
Kitty had curled up at one end of the couch. She turned away from the TV at that last development.
Scott, who was beside her pulled her over with his free arm, Jean was already locked protectively under his other. "It's okay Kitty." He said quietly, not sounding as in control as he wanted to. "They're in a better place now."
On the TV the news changed to cover world events. But there in that sanctuary for mutants the world didn't matter. The two they'd been unable to save did.
Also, this one is kinda sad. Just thought I'd warn you.
The Lost and Unseen: Demon and It
This place was dark, lit by what illumination escaped into it through slotted windows the occasional times when the door-above was opened.
A small boy, around five or so in age, perhaps close to six by now, sat curled in a far corner. Unlike a normal Human child he had a burnt-tan fur all over him, his hair was the same color but longer and roughly cut. Almost oversized triangular ears were perched on the top of his head and wide golden eyes watched the only other occupant of this cellar.
He was only known as 'Demon', a name his grandfather had given him the day he'd been born. He had a registered name he just never knew it. His mother was a mere teenager, her father didn't think his daughter should have to bear the burden of a child, much less a mutant one.
The other one was a second child to Demon's mother and male as well but more deeply mutated than even the older brother. The less than a year old baby was covered in gold-green scales and was shaped more like a lizard than a Human. He could even skitter across the floor on all fours when he was active. Red glimmering eyes darted around spying a cricket.
Most of the time 'It', as the poor boy was known, stayed near the water heater to stay warm. He was truly cold-blooded but showed as much affection for Demon as any mammalian creature.
Footsteps above them and a few muffled sounds were all these two children knew of the world-above. Demon spoke broken English, It spoke none. At least once a day their grandfather came down to give them something to eat and drink and to take away waste.
The man might not like the state he found hid grandchildren to be in. He might have hated them with all his heart, but they were his daughters' children. She had begged for their lives and he had agreed. It didn't keep him from trying to beat the evil out of them in any case.
The cellar door came open sending in light that was almost too much for either of the children's eyes. It fled into a shadowed corner with a flourish of claws and tail, Demon curled his own tail around his leg and stayed still.
Heavy footsteps descended, the man stopped halfway down the steps. "Boy, come here."
Demon clenched his jaw but obeyed. If he didn't it might be worse. He yowled loudly when his grandfather grabbed the scruff of his neck and lifted him.
"Boy, I don't know what you did, but you must have done something."
Demon cringed. "Demo, do, nothing." He said shakily. He was capable of slightly better speech but fear hampered him at the moment.
"Nothing, I guess that's what I should expect." He flung the boy back down the steps.
The feline Mutant landed on all fours with a sudden twist of his body. The landing still hurt from the concrete floor. He bounded deeper into the dark closer to It.
The man came all the way down stalking across the basement. He paced a little looking disappointed. "You two are the biggest lie God ever created. You're unholy, disgusting, stupid little creatures." He stop pacing and reached into the corner for It.
Demon knew his small brother had little chance against a direct hit from their grandfather. His bones were very flexible and had more than once broken after a nasty fall. He also knew that It had developed a vicious set of fangs that were strangely hollow.
"Stop squirming damn it and get what's coming to you!"
"No! It! No!" Demon leapt at the man teeth bared. His retractable claws bit deep causing his grandfather to fling him hard to the floor.
"Little bastard. I oughta...OW!" He pulled the lizard child from his arm where a few rips were now in his skin. "God damn it." He threw the small boy but with less force than he'd thrown Demon.
The older boy slunk over to It peering at his younger sibling carefully. "It?"
Red eyes came open and It made a hiss to prove he was alive. He flipped onto his belly letting a forked tongue flicker out. He rather liked the taste of blood.
For a moment Demon was afraid of what would happen next, but his grandfather was acting strangely. He was clutching the bite mark and sounded as if he were choking.
The mark had become a brutal purple color. He was spitting up blood in tremendous amount already as the Mutant venom coursed through him making every vessel in his lungs explode with amazing force.
"Granda?" Demon asked. He drew back when the man fell over drooling a thick yellow liquid along with the oddly dark red blood.
The boy felt sick. He'd never experienced death before; he had literally no idea what had just happened.
"Granda?" His voice was more frightened. He nearly jumped out of his fur when It gave him a push with his head.
It scuttled over his grandfathers body and up the stairs, stopping midway to eye his brother.
As soon as his senses came back to him Demon followed but more slowly. The bright lights of midday stung his eyes.
Everything was so strange. The light, the color, the lack of ceiling. It scared him to the point that he almost darted back into the cellar.
But It was less impressed by the newness. He raced into the backyard with without abandon making Demon chase after him. He became a little frustrated when he ran headlong into a chain link fence covered in something long and green.
Demon crouched by this fence staring at his brother. "What?" He asked quietly.
It whipped his tail in several seemingly random directions then nudged at the fence.
The cat-boy eyed the fence and gripped it with a hand. "Up?"
In response It lifted himself and grasped the fence pulling. It didn't get very far. His body was not build for vertical climbing. He hissed lowly, angry at the obstacle.
Demon crawled a little farther down the fence until he came to a place that had none of these green attachments. It was a gate with a simple latch. He'd never seen one before but it was an obvious way out.
It trundled closer curious as to what his brother had found.
Demon took hold the gate and shook it, nothing happened. He pulled down on the latch, again nothing happened. He pulled harder and got more frustrated finally pushing up in anger. It flipped up nearly taking off a finger.
The gate creaked open enough to be noticed.
Both boys stared a moment until It nosed it open farther sliding out of the back yard into another yard that had no fence of it's own.
Neither of them knew what to expect. Their life had been limited until now, but this place had to be better. Hadn't it?
The sound of many voices drew Demon out towards the street. He paused and glanced back at It who had startled a rabbit out of it's hiding place. The animal had made a clean get away leaving It to pad back to his brother.
Demon stood up straight to get a better look. A few trails of people he'd never even thought could exist disappeared around a corner towards the voices. They looked very interesting but very frightening.
The boy crouched by his brother. "Much, like Ganda. Go?"
It didn't respond and was already on his way towards the sounds.
Demon followed and was amazed at what he saw. There were so many people. He had no concept of what number there might be much less that there were actually other people than his Granda.
His sensitive ears had already picked up a main voice that was speaking to this mass of people. He could understand a little but not much.
"The threat is all around us! How many of you want to see your children fall victim to this? It's a disease that we need to eradicate!"
Several people in the crowd nodded and yelled their approval. This was an Anti-Mutant rally.
It had lost his earlier bravado and had curled behind his brother as they walked.
Demon glanced up at each of the faces around him. No one seemed to notice the pair of severely mutated children in their midst. That was until Demon bumped into a little girl.
The two locked eyes. One pair a misty green the other a thick gold with oval pupils.
They stared a long moment until the girl pulled on her mothers sleeve. The woman looked down at her daughter then into the direction the girl pointed.
On instinct the woman jerked the child from the abomination before her screaming wildly.
The crowd turned as one. Several people cursing and jumping away from the apparent mutants.
Demon crouched low terribly afraid of all the sudden movement. It hissed darkly at anyone who even looked as if they were coming too close.
"Someone grab 'em!" A voice called out.
Demon, a warm-blooded creature with a higher center of balance, was able to dart out of anyone's immediate grasp. It was not so lucky, his awkward limbs and low-slung body made for a slow get away, he was grabbed up with little effort.
Unfortunately for his holder his neck had an amazing reach.
The bite was deep and started to purple almost immediately. Another person from the crowd advanced to help retain the thrashing Reptile-boy, still another came into the fray when the bite victim convulsed and coughed up blood.
Madness erupted at the sight. People backed away farther, a few approached to help hold It down or to capture Demon.
The older boy found himself encased in arms. His pupils contracted to mere slits as he bit and scratched his way free. A few screams of pain and he landed hard on the ground.
A sudden sharp snap made the men holding It fall still.
The silence was unexpected as a few backed off. A scale-covered tail gone limp was the first Demon saw. The next was his brother's neck hanging at an odd angle.
Still breathing hard from fighting for freedom he suddenly couldn't inhale. Visions of his grandfather still and unmoving, the unnatural way he didn't breath.
"It, it was an accident." The last man holding It said.
A few police had made their way into this loose knot of people but stopped at the sight of one dead man in the street and a large dead lizard that almost looked Human.
"It?" Demon hobbled forward, no one touched him. They were afraid he might be poison as well. His little hands gripped at the green-gold body shaking it. "It?" It would have been heart wrenching to those around him if they weren't so terrified.
Demon felt his eyes sting. Something deep inside broke in half, something he could not fathom a name for.
A sharp keening sound split the air then vanished but the boy still appeared to be screaming.
A few pairs of glasses splintered, a hearing aid all but exploded in an elderly mans ear. The streetlight above them crackled and busted, showering everyone below it in bits of sturdy glass. A security system in a nearby car went off as its safety glass splintered into a lateral stress pattern. Several people bent over in pain until almost all of them had gone to their knees.
He inhaled sharply about to let loose another pain ridden shriek when something crashed into his head. A man from the crowd held a bat over him, he could barely see it as his vision faded in and out.
"God damn mutant demon!" The man shouted about to strike again. Another man grabbed his arm stopping him.
"It's a kid Frank! Jesus, it's only a kid!" The other man tried to wrestle the bat from him.
Eventually a police officer had shaken off the effects of the scream enough to get in the middle of it. He got landed with a nasty left hook.
Demon struggled to get up. Red dripped down his face onto the ground. His head ached like the time his grandfather had thrown him against the wall for not eating some bad tasting food. He suddenly stopped crawled and retched, nothing came up and it didn't help the pain.
He tried to crawl again, towards It. He attempted to say his brothers' name but couldn't get his jaw to work. The world darkened a little, he barely noticed that he'd fallen over.
The voices dimmed and the pain bled away spreading from him like the gentle pool that gathered around his head. He almost heard a woman scream to get an ambulance but it didn't matter.
He was back in the dark where he belonged.
* * *
They sat around the TV, a few of them crying, others trying not to. The news had come on less than ten minuets ago and already the entire mansion knew.
"The mutant children, identified as Marcus Leftlin and Daniel Leftlin had wandered into an anti-mutant rally earlier today." The News anchorwoman wore red and spoke in an even tone. "The Daniel, with reptilian mutations, was the first captured. The child apparently had a venomous bite and killed a rally member while trying to escape. Witnesses say it took only seconds for," She paused to get the name right. "Willard Groutman, to die. Marcus, with apparent feline mutations, was beaten to death. Both men responsible for the children's deaths are in custody but it unsure to what length the law will go to punish them."
All of them knew that the men would probably get off with a fine. It was an unspoken thing that night. The life of a mutant, their lives, meant nothing to the 'normal' people. The proof was written in the blood of two children now.
"In related news the boys grandfather Charles Leftlin was found in his basement dead of the same venom carried by his grandson. Most disturbingly police found evidence that the boys had been kept down there for some time. Officials suspect that Mr. Leftlin had been abusing them and in a struggle Daniel bit his grandfather granting the two escape."
Kitty had curled up at one end of the couch. She turned away from the TV at that last development.
Scott, who was beside her pulled her over with his free arm, Jean was already locked protectively under his other. "It's okay Kitty." He said quietly, not sounding as in control as he wanted to. "They're in a better place now."
On the TV the news changed to cover world events. But there in that sanctuary for mutants the world didn't matter. The two they'd been unable to save did.