-Recollection-
His footsteps echoed hollowly down the hallway, his stride carefully measured and deliberate on the coldly lit tiles. He knew the other heard him, yet the burlap-shaded head never budged, unkempt hair hiding all expression.
Rows upon rows of stark metal lockers stretched in grim uniformity on each side, so that the walk seemed without end, him not getting anywhere, the vast expanse of hard reflective surface glowing faintly before him a treadmill that went on and on…
The Road goes ever on and on… Rustling, like the wings of so many birds; the musty, comforting papery scent permeating every smooth-grained yellowed page; shelves and stacks, chests and old, rickety drawers, all aligned, script flowing and standing perkily, jauntily; worlds limitless as time itself lying shut between twin palms of leather and colored paper. He lost himself in their lingering embrace. Down from the door where it began. A smile spread unconsciously, wide and unrestrained, for once. Now far ahead the Road has gone,And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
In the space of a breath, he dared to hope for a chance. The world was wide. The horizon extended from one side of the sky to the other, endless. Surely there was some space for him and the others.
Then in a breath's time he was there, and suddenly it was too soon. Nevertheless, he leaned against the cold, biting metal alongside, casually, shuddering inside at the startling chill that seemed even more pronounced in grim accompaniment with the overcast sky and pouring rain outside.
"Hey." Lance's voice was one of gentle sympathy. "How're you holdin' up?"
He was finally granted the wide-eyed stare of the twin yellowish orbs, bloodshot, faint spidery crimson lines crackling about a pupil of moon-distant gold, eerily two-dimensional when it should not have been. The stare of an amphibian, inhuman to so many. Todd lowered his head hastily beneath the older's silent, expectant gaze, shoulders hunched.
"What do you think?" came a reedy voice, trembling, stretched taut as it willed itself to be hard.
"I think you need to stop mopin' around so much." Lance smiled at the sallow face, even paler than usual, accentuating temples webbed with a tangle of thready, bruised blue veinlets laced with red.
A half-hearted glare. "I ain't doin' no mopin', yo." This was belied by the red-rimmed eyes and Todd's refusal to meet the earth-shaker's eyes after his initial boldness.
The darker-haired boy had many things to say to that, but he decided to keep them to himself, contenting himself instead with taking a good long look at his friend. He couldn't remember the last time he'd bothered.
The Toad's cheeks sagged slightly, mouth and chin jutting out, almost like a beak, serving only to further the already grotesque twisting of the quasi-human features. Lance felt like he was looking at a gargoyle more than ever before, and frowned to see the shadows eternally clustering round the jaundiced eyes deepening from purple to almost black. "Have you been sleeping okay?"
As soon as he asked this, other small details began to emerge. Bruises stood out in sharp relief against the canvas of ashen skin. Lance had to quell the surge of hot anger that welled inside him as the ground began to tremble. Kitty had been so kind as to inform him that the Brotherhood "should maybe, like, not use your powers today and screw it up for the rest of us". Frankly, none of them gave a damn about the X-Geeks, but still… Lance shook himself.
Todd, who'd paused at his question, turned away abruptly, getting down in a crouch, and Lance recognized his stance; the younger mutant was about to hop away, and then Lance would never catch him.
The long, well-muscled legs tensed, readying themselves to jump, when a hand clamped down on one thin shoulder. Todd all but screeched, "Fine! Heck, great, yo." He tried to pry Lance's firm grip from his shoulder, to no avail. "Lemme go! You had your fun, Rocky!"
In an instant Lance's ruggedly handsome features were in his face, sharp umber eyes staring him down until he cringed and hated himself for doing it. "Really? 'Cause it sure don't look it." Lance was practically growling. "I'm serious, Todd. What's going on?"
The amphibious mutant almost cringed again at Lance's use of his true name. The older boy only did that in emergencies, or when he was getting real pissed off. Everyone called him Toad, usually. Lance had only used his name once before, and it was not an experience he cared to repeat.
And Lance's grip on his shoulder was really getting exceedingly painful. "Ow!" he couldn't help but yelp. "Leggo a' me an' I'll tell, yo, really!"
As soon as the pressure on his shoulder ceased, Todd turned away, muttering resentfully as he rubbed the bruise he was sure was rapidly forming, if it hadn't already under those unbelievably heavy fingers…
Behind him, Lance crossed his arms and waited, unable to keep a fleeting triumphant smile from loosening his darkened face. "I'm waiting, Tolanski…" He tapped his foot, mock-impatient.
"Fine, fine," the boy before him grumbled, before slouching against the locker with a sigh and a loud clang. He gathered his lanky limbs together till he was almost a ball, but all awkward jutting boniness, hugging his knees with arms that disappeared into stained white sleeves. And, with his face buried somewhere in the midst, he mumbled something completely unintelligible.
"What? Speak up, I can't hear you," chanted Lance, leaning down and cupping a hand to his ear.
Inside his warm little cocoon of musky mud-colored sweater, Todd bit his lip angrily. Flinging back his shaggy mane of sandy hair, he shouted into Lance's ear, "I can't!"
Who, thoroughly startled, stumbled back several steps as Todd watched with a satisfied smirk, but unfortunately still had the presence of mind to ask, "You can't sleep? Why not?"
" 'Cuz– 'cuz– aww, just 'cuz, yo!" Lance sighed as his friend buried himself again.
"Okay, kid, this can either be cool, or it can be harder, and less pretty. I hafta tell you it's not gonna be easy either way, but you gotta get it over with, you know?"
"I know, man," groaned Todd from the safety of his arms. "I know."
"So why don't you come straight out and say it?" Lance sat against the locker beside him, one leg pulled up, resting his arm on the ripped knee of the jeans.
Todd looked up, took a deep breath, seemed to steel himself. His jaw tightened in determination, and Lance's nod of approval seemed to hearten his nervous efforts. The moon orbs slid to the floor as the shaggy-headed mutant said in a small, hushed voice, "It's the shadows, ya know? They're all over, yo, an' you never know wha's what, an' what might come outta there." He trailed off.
It was nothing Lance hadn't expected, but he was still a bit surprised. He'd thought Todd was over this; the shrieks, occurring only in daylight for some time now, were usually for fear of Duncan or one of his cronies being just around the corner, or so he assumed. He hadn't thought much of their recent return at night, just thought maybe Todd was up to some new midnight mischief. He smiled in remembrance of the time the youngster had attempted to look in Mystique's room for any cash that might have been left after her disappearance and had woken the entire household stepping on a spider.
But now was not the time for reminiscence. "You're afraid of the dark?"
The younger boy lowered his head in shame, and Lance resisted the urge to pat him on the head. "It sure hasn't seemed like it for a while now."
Todd muttered the next few words, trying to hide them as well as himself, it seemed. Lance caught little of what he said, only "… Pietro." The earth-shaker had to stifle a groan and the urge to bang his head repeatedly against a locker. As soon as he promised himself to stop thinking about that, it turned up again. Why, why couldn't he get away from Pietro?! The irony of this was not lost on Lance. The speed demon was in school, but hadn't come near him or any of the Brotherhood for some time; the last time Lance had spoken to him had been in the X manse before the disastrous mission with the geeks.
Wait. Wait, wait, wait a second. What did Todd's fear of the dark have anything to do with the speedster? It made no sense; Pietro wasn't one for petty tricks like that. His considerable pride would never allow it. As the speed demon himself had once said, with a disdainful flick of the hand, "I don't pick on little kids." Lance's interest immediately intensified tenfold.
"What about Pietro?"
Todd gulped; so he really hadn't wanted Lance to hear. "Screw that bullshit, Todd, he's a traitor, not a tabooed exile." The other looked at him as though he'd lost his mind. "So spill. Now." There was a dangerous gleam in the dark eyes.
Reluctantly, looking like he regretted even bringing it up, Todd told his story.
"I… get these bad vibes sometimes, yo."
Lance rolled his eyes as he translated, "Nightmares. Okay, go on."
Todd glared. "Anyway, I get these nightmare things, yo, an'– an' when I wake up, s'all dark, ya know? An' in the middle a' the night, I ain't exactly thinkin' straight, yo." He mumbled his words, repeating himself, barely conscious excuses tumbling incessantly from his lips. "An' s'all dark, man. 'Cept for the moon, 'course, dang creepy light, f'you ask me. Anyway, I wake up, an' there're all these shadows an' stuff, an' they're movin', yo, an' who knows if there ain't somethin' in there, ya know?"
Silence was his answer, but Lance's eyes fixed on him prompted him to go on, which he did, even more nervously than before, his voice breaking up in its trembles. "An'– an' then Pietro came. One night, jus' outta the blue, ya know? Jus' nothin' one minute an' then he was there, yo. Straight outta the shadows, jus' like that, scared the shit outta me, yo." Todd smiled wryly at the memory. " 'Course I asked him straightaway what the hell he was doin' in my bedroom in the middle a' the night, but he just sorta laughed, yo, an' tol' me not to worry my little ass, or somethin' – he scowled, but Lance smiled; that was Pietro all right – an' he figured he'd scared me enough, yo. I got frickin' steamed, 'course, an' went after him with my tongue, woulda got him too, annoyin' li'l – Todd shook his fist, caught up in his tale – but he was gone already. An' after that I jus' figured the shadows were him, yo, jus' Pietro playin' around with me, I mean, who can trust that guy? But now he's jus' clean gone, yo, an' I can't pretend no more." The shaggy head drooped, the words a whisper now. "I can't pretend no more, yo."
Lance didn't know what to say to that, so he just settled for shaking his head in mute amaze. Pietro, playing big brother to Todd in his own odd way, it seemed, and getting it, too. Who would've thought?
A bitter taste stung his throat. Lance almost laughed. Who, indeed…--
Dedication:
To Chiru, Ellen, Mistress of Dragons and Absolute Alcohol. ^-^ Love y'all! This is for you!
Info: Um, I have no idea why Todd referred to his nightmares as "bad vibes". You'll have to refer to the "Dictionary of Toddism" for that 'un. ^-^'
The little song Lance had threading through his head is actually from The Fellowship of the Ring, the one Bilbo sings as he's going off after he "disappears". *chuckle* Weird little dude, that one…
A/N: When I say Pietro-centric, I mean Pietro-centric. XD No really, see, my theory is that since Pietro's the most prominent member of the Brotherhood in terms of visibility, any drastic change in him would be generally noticed. Which is what is happening here, I think. . Then again it might just be my obsessive infatuation with Quicksilver at work. Hee.
Sorry about this taking so long. I was in Vegas. Also, this was supposed to be longer, with a second part, but I've cut that out 'cuz I need to touch it up, plus it didn't really fit properly. The next chappie will come a lot quicker as a result though. ^-~ Every cloud has silver lining, yo.
I think I screwed up Todd's speech patterns, even with my newly acquired 'yo' fetish. -_-
Review Responses:
Chiru – So glad the explanations were of some help. ^-^v Thank you for the nice critique and compliments! *holds out cookie*
Ellen – Welp, this is just about all Toddiness, just for you. ^-~ Don't worry, I'll see about cheering Pietro up one of these days. XD
Mistress of Dragons – 0.o The explanations were more useful than I thought. In any case, thanks, they get in my head too most of the time; I'm the one who gets to turn the tables, then. 8D
Absolute Alcohol – Nope, not an Evietro fan. I just don't go for the mocha-skinned type, I guess. I'm also less than enthusiastic about Evan's general personality, which might have something more to do with it. *shrug* I love Pie, but Evan… no. Yes, your reviews are quite… different, in a good way. =D Awww, thanks. *hugz*
Recommendation of the Chapter:
Go read Mistress of Dragons's "Glimpses". It's pure OC, but it's very nicely written and quite creative. No Mary Sues, either.
Ending Note: Oy. These AN's just get longer every time. Oh, well.
Is there a pattern here or what? Introspection, Retrospection, Contemplation, Recollection, jeez…
The next installment will be Lance again, and then the next one Rogue's POV. I wasn't planning to have Rogue, but she slipped into my head and now she won't get out. *shrug* Circumspection, Pietro POV, should come right after that. Patience, 'kay? We'll get there… eventually.
As always, constructive criticism is welcomed and much appreciated.
Next Installment: Observation