Thank you all you kind, gracious, wonderful, excellent reviewers!!! I luved
reading them so much, please send me some more!!!
I'm not going to bore you with lots of talk, but I must say this is one of the longest chapters I've written, or at least it feels like it... lol.
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Ororo, Scott, and Logan were in a state of shock. Scott flew the blackbird back to the mansion, starring out the window and trying to calculate what happened back in the town. Logan had grabbed Ink's gun and destroyed it with his claws, afraid the girl would shoot someone else or even herself, but Ink never moved or took her eyes off the man she had killed. Three bullets of revenge, representing her life of misery, pain, and the effects of having to become an adult way before her time. Now it was done, and the man she blamed was dead.
Ink herself sat in the back of the plane, not moving or protesting, indeed continuing to stare straight ahead of her with cold eyes. She did not think, recognize anyone, or give any signs of life other than breathing and her slow pulse. Ororo left the co-piloting duties up to Logan, sitting near Ink and trying in vain to get some reaction from the teen, whose hand was still curled in the shape of a gun hilt.
"Professor, we have Ink. She's fine... she got a gun and... yes, we think it was her father... no, she's alright..." Scott quietly talked to Xavier through the com link and looked back at Ink, who remained staring ahead. The leader of the X Men looked at Ororo, who shook her head.
Later that evening the docked in the mansion and to everyone's surprise Ink looked up and muttered.
"Where is Belle?"
"I'll take you to her," Ororo said instantly. Ink nodded acceptingly and stood up, slowly following the weather goddess out of the jet. Logan and Scott exchanged looks.
"Yeh think she'll be alright?" Logan grunted. Scott shook his head.
"I don't know, but something horrible must have happened to her to make her shoot that man." Scott replied. Logan nodded.
"They'll most likely be in the rec room," Ororo said as they walked down the halls. After a bit they reached the rec room, and sure enough almost all of the twelve children were laughing and playing with mutants from the school, who seemed to be glad to take care of the younger ones. Ororo made to walk into the room but to her surprise Ink stopped her.
"No, I just want to look for a second," she said. Ororo looked at the teen closely, her eyes were no longer green but rather a dull grey, and the white haired woman was worried about her.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Ink looked at her for a while, then turned her gaze back on her younger brothers and sisters.
"Why are you doing this? This school's for mutants, why are you letting twelve normal kids stay here? Are you going to break them up into separate foster homes?" she asked. There was no anger in her words, only a tired question.
"No, we will not break up your family unless it is what they want. We will take you in for as long as it takes for you to be able to get on your own feet, or until all of you are old enough to make your way in the world." Ororo said.
"But why?" Ink asked again.
"Because, we care." Ororo said slowly. Now there was sarcasm and a bitter note in Ink's voice.
"If our parents did not care, why should anyone else?" Ororo could not answer this question, it baffled her. Then Ink walked into the room, hands in her coat pockets, and looked at her brothers and sisters. Belle immediately jumped up and ran over to Ink, crying out her name and jumping into her sister's arms. Ink hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear.
"I'm sorry, Belle, I didn't want to leave. I'm back now, we're staying together, don't worry." Belle hugged her for a moment longer and then stepped away, looking at her closely.
"You did, didn't you? You finally went." She said. Ink nodded.
"Yeah, dad won't bother us anymore," she said with a sad smile. Just then Ink was tackled by her younger siblings, and Belle laughed as her eldest sister disappeared in a pile of younger children.
"Inky! You came back! Yay!" they cried. Ink nodded.
"Yeah, but when did I ever leave you guys?" she asked.
******************
Later that night Ororo showed Ink to a room for herself, and the girl sat on the bed and took out her knife, flicking it open and looking at the shiny steel blade.
"Have you ever killed someone? A family member?" she asked. Ororo nodded and sat on her bed, also looking at the knife.
"Yes, I have killed someone, but not family," she said. Ink nodded.
"Of course, no one who is real kills their own blood. Even if it's bad," she added as an afterthought. Ororo looked at her closely.
"Why do you think you have bad blood?" Ororo asked. Ink laughed, but it was cold and short.
"I know I do. Everyone in my family who has the blackness has bad blood. They've all died after horrible lives that would have been better not to have lived."
"The blackness?" Ororo said, confused.
"The sickness that makes us pass out from time to time," Ink explained. "One day some smart, sensible person will kill me, I hope before I do anything stupider then some of the things I already have. I hope it's Belle, the person who kill me." She added. Ororo was shocked.
"Why? What have you done? I have seen you defend and do your best to care for your brothers and sisters, is that bad? I would call it honorable." Ororo said truthfully. Ink snorted.
"Honorable, like what I did tonight? Killing that bastard? Belle knows I have been planning it for a long time, so did the man who gave me the gun to do it. Those three bullets were meant for Carl Aringtil, they always were since he killed my older brother." Ororo's eyes went wide and Ink laughed again. "Yeah, I had an older brother. His name was Benji. My father was drunk one night and they got in a fight. Benji was shot with the same gun I shot my father with." Ororo could say nothing right then, and it looked like Ink was going to say more, so she didn't try.
Ink herself was feeling the tears that were coming up, but she had had so much experience pushing them back down it came as no problem for her. "That was after my mom died, and so I took Beth and ran away, she was only a few days old. Later I came back for the rest, I couldn't leave them there with that fucker. I would have shot him then, but I couldn't do it.
"We lived off the streets for several years, evading the social workers that were following us for a bit and then dropping our case easily. I never stopped making plans for the day I would kill him, and it's a load off my shoulders now that the day has passed." Ink broke off and looked away.
"Why do you dress as a boy?" Ororo asked. Ink turned around and looked at her, the tears were harder to shove down now.
"Because boys are not preyed on as much as girls," she said. Ororo was horrified, she had not expected this. Then Ink looked at her straight in the eye.
"Did you ever notice that I am the only member of my family with a name that begins with a letter other than 'B' or 'C'?" Ororo nodded. "Well, that's because my father's name was Carl, and my mother's was Belle. They decided that every other child should be named their letter, it started with Benji, then went to me, then Belle and the twins Calvin and Christina, because they were born at the same time, and so on. As soon as I found I was the only one with a mutation I knew I needed a different name, and that's how I got Ink, because of this smoke that I have mastered."
"What was your birth name?" Ororo asked. Ink looked at her, as if trying to remember that herself. Then she shook her head.
"It does not matter. All that matters about me is my blood, which is why I should leave as soon as possible." Ink said. Suddenly the door burst open and Belle marched in.
"You're real name is Cassandra, Ink, Cassandra!" she cried. It was hard to say who looked more shocked, Ink or Ororo. Belle had started to cry again. "And you don't have bad blood," she said weakly. Suddenly Ink seemed to get hard and mean. Jumping up she grabbed Belle's hand and brought the knife down swiftly, making a small ct in her palm. Ororo jumped up and Belle tried to get away, but Ink had her in an iron grip.
"Look at your blood, look at it!" Ink spat. Belle looked at the bright red blood streaming down her hand and Ink put the knife blade next it, catching some of the blood as it came out. She turned and showed the knife to Ororo, letting go of Belle's hand and seeming to forget her.
"This," Ink said. "This is real blood, the blood of some one else's family. This," she said, cutting her own hand, "is my father's blood, my blood." The blood that came from her own veins was not bright red, or in deed red at all. It was dark green and had black in it, like her smoke. It was also thick and drained slower than Belles had. Ororo gapped at it and Ink could not hold in the one tear that managed to slip down her cheek.
"This is the blood of Ink, that blood that should not have been allowed to keep flowing, because all I do is cause more problems and danger for my family. Stop crying Beth, you said it yourself, I can't take care of you or the others, we would have starved one by one until there were none of us left." Ink said. Beth shook her head.
"You wouldn't let us, Ink! You have always taken care of us! Mom and Dad couldn't after... but you always did. After dad shot Benji you got all of us out of there without anyone getting hurt, and you've kept us alive ever since!" Belle said, tears still falling. But there was no arguing with Ink. She just starred stonily at her hand, which was still bleeding.
"I am who I am, nothing will change that. Now if you'll excuse me..." She walked over to the bathroom and slammed the door shut, and Ororo looked at Beth.
"Come, she just needs some time alone. Let's see, Jean can fix that hand in no time." Ink listened to the door shut, announcing the departure of her sister and the woman.
Then the tears came, heavy and unrelenting. Ink cried for a long time there, about her mother, about Benji and what happened so long ago... it seemed like lifetimes since Ink gave up her home and name and became Ink, the caretaker of twelve. She could never afford to cry, she had a huge family to take care of, and anyway crying was something a boy didn't do, and that's what she whished she was.
She thought about her father, and knew that either he was still unfound or Harold had found him and left him in the woods for the wild things to take care of his remains. Good ole Harold, who had always stuck by Ink and was once nearly beaten to death for it by her father. He had been Carl's friend, until the man turned against his daughter, eldest son, and Harold. They had taken care of her, and Carl had killed one and nearly done the other in. Ink was glad she shot him, it meant that he would no longer be able to hurt anyone, and though she knew Benji would not have approved, she had Harold, who not only supported her in it but even came up with the gun and bullets that she needed.
Then Ink thought of her siblings. Belle would be in charge now, weather Ink stayed or not, and the mutant knew it. She was more sensible than Ink could ever be, and she was growing up too fast to be under Ink's protective wing anymore. And Calvin and Christina were also growing up fast. Ink hardly recognized any of her brothers and sisters anymore, except Benjamin. Ben was always her favorite, no point in denying it. He always stuck with her and was the nicest little boy in the group.
But he to was growing up and even Ink's motherly vision could see that. These kids were going far, every one of them. As the tears subsided Ink got up and shakily looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.
She looked old. No wonder the bartenders never questioned her when she came into the bars. Her eyes weren't that sparkling green they used to be, but more graying and there was a bit of a shadow underneath him. Her shoulders weren't held high like they used to be, but rather appeared to be carrying a great and invisible load. She wasn't that tall, sure, but not many people in her family were. Looking close at her two shoulder length green bangs Ink also noticed they had dulled in color, but that might be expected.... Ink didn't know anything anymore! Not about her family, not about herself, or the world, or where she was right now. Nothing.
There was nothing for it, Ink couldn't stay around anymore, her sanity, fragile enough already, was getting more and more endangered as she tried and failed to be the parent her brothers and sisters never had. She couldn't leave on another bike, in fact she should probably go get rid of the smoke in the garage, on the way up to her room she had smelled it and could see the garage door was barricaded. It was kind of funny; too bad there was nothing worth laughing for anymore.
Ink slowly made her way down the hallways, it was past midnight and everyone appeared to be sleeping. One room's door was slightly open, and Ink somehow knew this was where her family was. Opening it slightly she peered in and whispered a goodbye to the sleeping kids. They looked so peaceful in the bit of moonlight coming from the window. They would soar in life, if they ever got off the platform their father and Ink had built for them. They deserved everything they wanted or needed.
Closing the door softly Ink resumed her walk towards the garage, trying to decide if this was what she really wanted to do. But that answer was easy, it was yes of course.
The answer was the best possible choice for someone like her, this was the one thing Ink was sure of. Leaving her family to make their way on a golden road, she laughed at how corny it sounded. Then she thought for a second, this time she'd take a green bike, red hadn't really done it for her.
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Aw well, sort of a cliffie right then. I'm not saying anything about it except the more reviews I get the faster I will write, and I need at least five to post it at all.
-Ice Lynx
I'm not going to bore you with lots of talk, but I must say this is one of the longest chapters I've written, or at least it feels like it... lol.
***********************************************************************
Ororo, Scott, and Logan were in a state of shock. Scott flew the blackbird back to the mansion, starring out the window and trying to calculate what happened back in the town. Logan had grabbed Ink's gun and destroyed it with his claws, afraid the girl would shoot someone else or even herself, but Ink never moved or took her eyes off the man she had killed. Three bullets of revenge, representing her life of misery, pain, and the effects of having to become an adult way before her time. Now it was done, and the man she blamed was dead.
Ink herself sat in the back of the plane, not moving or protesting, indeed continuing to stare straight ahead of her with cold eyes. She did not think, recognize anyone, or give any signs of life other than breathing and her slow pulse. Ororo left the co-piloting duties up to Logan, sitting near Ink and trying in vain to get some reaction from the teen, whose hand was still curled in the shape of a gun hilt.
"Professor, we have Ink. She's fine... she got a gun and... yes, we think it was her father... no, she's alright..." Scott quietly talked to Xavier through the com link and looked back at Ink, who remained staring ahead. The leader of the X Men looked at Ororo, who shook her head.
Later that evening the docked in the mansion and to everyone's surprise Ink looked up and muttered.
"Where is Belle?"
"I'll take you to her," Ororo said instantly. Ink nodded acceptingly and stood up, slowly following the weather goddess out of the jet. Logan and Scott exchanged looks.
"Yeh think she'll be alright?" Logan grunted. Scott shook his head.
"I don't know, but something horrible must have happened to her to make her shoot that man." Scott replied. Logan nodded.
"They'll most likely be in the rec room," Ororo said as they walked down the halls. After a bit they reached the rec room, and sure enough almost all of the twelve children were laughing and playing with mutants from the school, who seemed to be glad to take care of the younger ones. Ororo made to walk into the room but to her surprise Ink stopped her.
"No, I just want to look for a second," she said. Ororo looked at the teen closely, her eyes were no longer green but rather a dull grey, and the white haired woman was worried about her.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Ink looked at her for a while, then turned her gaze back on her younger brothers and sisters.
"Why are you doing this? This school's for mutants, why are you letting twelve normal kids stay here? Are you going to break them up into separate foster homes?" she asked. There was no anger in her words, only a tired question.
"No, we will not break up your family unless it is what they want. We will take you in for as long as it takes for you to be able to get on your own feet, or until all of you are old enough to make your way in the world." Ororo said.
"But why?" Ink asked again.
"Because, we care." Ororo said slowly. Now there was sarcasm and a bitter note in Ink's voice.
"If our parents did not care, why should anyone else?" Ororo could not answer this question, it baffled her. Then Ink walked into the room, hands in her coat pockets, and looked at her brothers and sisters. Belle immediately jumped up and ran over to Ink, crying out her name and jumping into her sister's arms. Ink hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear.
"I'm sorry, Belle, I didn't want to leave. I'm back now, we're staying together, don't worry." Belle hugged her for a moment longer and then stepped away, looking at her closely.
"You did, didn't you? You finally went." She said. Ink nodded.
"Yeah, dad won't bother us anymore," she said with a sad smile. Just then Ink was tackled by her younger siblings, and Belle laughed as her eldest sister disappeared in a pile of younger children.
"Inky! You came back! Yay!" they cried. Ink nodded.
"Yeah, but when did I ever leave you guys?" she asked.
******************
Later that night Ororo showed Ink to a room for herself, and the girl sat on the bed and took out her knife, flicking it open and looking at the shiny steel blade.
"Have you ever killed someone? A family member?" she asked. Ororo nodded and sat on her bed, also looking at the knife.
"Yes, I have killed someone, but not family," she said. Ink nodded.
"Of course, no one who is real kills their own blood. Even if it's bad," she added as an afterthought. Ororo looked at her closely.
"Why do you think you have bad blood?" Ororo asked. Ink laughed, but it was cold and short.
"I know I do. Everyone in my family who has the blackness has bad blood. They've all died after horrible lives that would have been better not to have lived."
"The blackness?" Ororo said, confused.
"The sickness that makes us pass out from time to time," Ink explained. "One day some smart, sensible person will kill me, I hope before I do anything stupider then some of the things I already have. I hope it's Belle, the person who kill me." She added. Ororo was shocked.
"Why? What have you done? I have seen you defend and do your best to care for your brothers and sisters, is that bad? I would call it honorable." Ororo said truthfully. Ink snorted.
"Honorable, like what I did tonight? Killing that bastard? Belle knows I have been planning it for a long time, so did the man who gave me the gun to do it. Those three bullets were meant for Carl Aringtil, they always were since he killed my older brother." Ororo's eyes went wide and Ink laughed again. "Yeah, I had an older brother. His name was Benji. My father was drunk one night and they got in a fight. Benji was shot with the same gun I shot my father with." Ororo could say nothing right then, and it looked like Ink was going to say more, so she didn't try.
Ink herself was feeling the tears that were coming up, but she had had so much experience pushing them back down it came as no problem for her. "That was after my mom died, and so I took Beth and ran away, she was only a few days old. Later I came back for the rest, I couldn't leave them there with that fucker. I would have shot him then, but I couldn't do it.
"We lived off the streets for several years, evading the social workers that were following us for a bit and then dropping our case easily. I never stopped making plans for the day I would kill him, and it's a load off my shoulders now that the day has passed." Ink broke off and looked away.
"Why do you dress as a boy?" Ororo asked. Ink turned around and looked at her, the tears were harder to shove down now.
"Because boys are not preyed on as much as girls," she said. Ororo was horrified, she had not expected this. Then Ink looked at her straight in the eye.
"Did you ever notice that I am the only member of my family with a name that begins with a letter other than 'B' or 'C'?" Ororo nodded. "Well, that's because my father's name was Carl, and my mother's was Belle. They decided that every other child should be named their letter, it started with Benji, then went to me, then Belle and the twins Calvin and Christina, because they were born at the same time, and so on. As soon as I found I was the only one with a mutation I knew I needed a different name, and that's how I got Ink, because of this smoke that I have mastered."
"What was your birth name?" Ororo asked. Ink looked at her, as if trying to remember that herself. Then she shook her head.
"It does not matter. All that matters about me is my blood, which is why I should leave as soon as possible." Ink said. Suddenly the door burst open and Belle marched in.
"You're real name is Cassandra, Ink, Cassandra!" she cried. It was hard to say who looked more shocked, Ink or Ororo. Belle had started to cry again. "And you don't have bad blood," she said weakly. Suddenly Ink seemed to get hard and mean. Jumping up she grabbed Belle's hand and brought the knife down swiftly, making a small ct in her palm. Ororo jumped up and Belle tried to get away, but Ink had her in an iron grip.
"Look at your blood, look at it!" Ink spat. Belle looked at the bright red blood streaming down her hand and Ink put the knife blade next it, catching some of the blood as it came out. She turned and showed the knife to Ororo, letting go of Belle's hand and seeming to forget her.
"This," Ink said. "This is real blood, the blood of some one else's family. This," she said, cutting her own hand, "is my father's blood, my blood." The blood that came from her own veins was not bright red, or in deed red at all. It was dark green and had black in it, like her smoke. It was also thick and drained slower than Belles had. Ororo gapped at it and Ink could not hold in the one tear that managed to slip down her cheek.
"This is the blood of Ink, that blood that should not have been allowed to keep flowing, because all I do is cause more problems and danger for my family. Stop crying Beth, you said it yourself, I can't take care of you or the others, we would have starved one by one until there were none of us left." Ink said. Beth shook her head.
"You wouldn't let us, Ink! You have always taken care of us! Mom and Dad couldn't after... but you always did. After dad shot Benji you got all of us out of there without anyone getting hurt, and you've kept us alive ever since!" Belle said, tears still falling. But there was no arguing with Ink. She just starred stonily at her hand, which was still bleeding.
"I am who I am, nothing will change that. Now if you'll excuse me..." She walked over to the bathroom and slammed the door shut, and Ororo looked at Beth.
"Come, she just needs some time alone. Let's see, Jean can fix that hand in no time." Ink listened to the door shut, announcing the departure of her sister and the woman.
Then the tears came, heavy and unrelenting. Ink cried for a long time there, about her mother, about Benji and what happened so long ago... it seemed like lifetimes since Ink gave up her home and name and became Ink, the caretaker of twelve. She could never afford to cry, she had a huge family to take care of, and anyway crying was something a boy didn't do, and that's what she whished she was.
She thought about her father, and knew that either he was still unfound or Harold had found him and left him in the woods for the wild things to take care of his remains. Good ole Harold, who had always stuck by Ink and was once nearly beaten to death for it by her father. He had been Carl's friend, until the man turned against his daughter, eldest son, and Harold. They had taken care of her, and Carl had killed one and nearly done the other in. Ink was glad she shot him, it meant that he would no longer be able to hurt anyone, and though she knew Benji would not have approved, she had Harold, who not only supported her in it but even came up with the gun and bullets that she needed.
Then Ink thought of her siblings. Belle would be in charge now, weather Ink stayed or not, and the mutant knew it. She was more sensible than Ink could ever be, and she was growing up too fast to be under Ink's protective wing anymore. And Calvin and Christina were also growing up fast. Ink hardly recognized any of her brothers and sisters anymore, except Benjamin. Ben was always her favorite, no point in denying it. He always stuck with her and was the nicest little boy in the group.
But he to was growing up and even Ink's motherly vision could see that. These kids were going far, every one of them. As the tears subsided Ink got up and shakily looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.
She looked old. No wonder the bartenders never questioned her when she came into the bars. Her eyes weren't that sparkling green they used to be, but more graying and there was a bit of a shadow underneath him. Her shoulders weren't held high like they used to be, but rather appeared to be carrying a great and invisible load. She wasn't that tall, sure, but not many people in her family were. Looking close at her two shoulder length green bangs Ink also noticed they had dulled in color, but that might be expected.... Ink didn't know anything anymore! Not about her family, not about herself, or the world, or where she was right now. Nothing.
There was nothing for it, Ink couldn't stay around anymore, her sanity, fragile enough already, was getting more and more endangered as she tried and failed to be the parent her brothers and sisters never had. She couldn't leave on another bike, in fact she should probably go get rid of the smoke in the garage, on the way up to her room she had smelled it and could see the garage door was barricaded. It was kind of funny; too bad there was nothing worth laughing for anymore.
Ink slowly made her way down the hallways, it was past midnight and everyone appeared to be sleeping. One room's door was slightly open, and Ink somehow knew this was where her family was. Opening it slightly she peered in and whispered a goodbye to the sleeping kids. They looked so peaceful in the bit of moonlight coming from the window. They would soar in life, if they ever got off the platform their father and Ink had built for them. They deserved everything they wanted or needed.
Closing the door softly Ink resumed her walk towards the garage, trying to decide if this was what she really wanted to do. But that answer was easy, it was yes of course.
The answer was the best possible choice for someone like her, this was the one thing Ink was sure of. Leaving her family to make their way on a golden road, she laughed at how corny it sounded. Then she thought for a second, this time she'd take a green bike, red hadn't really done it for her.
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Aw well, sort of a cliffie right then. I'm not saying anything about it except the more reviews I get the faster I will write, and I need at least five to post it at all.
-Ice Lynx