Ah'm pretty sure Ah've mentioned somethin' about how, ever since that time on Genosha, Ah don't feel th' cold as much. But in that hallway, chasin' after Kitty while she was chasin' that glowin' will o' th' wisp, Ah felt it. Th' sensation traveled over me in waves. It made me brittle. A glass girl. Like one good punch'd crack me into a million pieces that'd be sharp little fragments like teeth scattered on th' floor.
It was like Ah was movin' underwater. My lungs burned for oxygen an' Ah just felt like Ah couldn't move fast at all. Th' sickly light made th' walls squirm. It was almost like a dream when Ah saw Kitty stretch her arm an' snatch at th' thing. It fell back limply into her arms.
All of a sudden, everythin' snapped to, as if we'd all been on th' end of a giant rubber band that'd been pulled as far as it could go an' then released. Th' glow disappeared an' th' dark settled around us again. Restored ta somethin' that was a helluva lot closer ta normal than Ah'd been before, Ah managed ta find Kitty an' helped her lower th' person ta th' floor. Remy an' John reached us a minute later. They were breathin' syncopation with each other.
"How 'bout some light?" Kitty asked nervously. Now that th' first surge of adrenaline'd worn off, Ah guess she was seein' what a big risk she'd taken.
For once, John didn't protest. Not even a tiny groan, that might've been his right. In th' unsteady glow from his lighter, Ah saw that his face was strained. Tired. My heart trembled at that, but Ah kept my fears ta myself. He was wearin' close ta th' line for this an' Ah didn't know what we'd do if he ran outta strength when we seemed so far from anythin' safe. Felt like we were miles down an' Ah tried not ta think o' anythin' Ah'd read about caves an' explorers goin' crazy, gettin' lost, dyin'.
Remy touched my arm, just above th' elbow, an' swept his thumb along th' joint. "Don't," was all he said, so quiet that only Ah could hear.
"But..."
He shook his head. "Don't."
Ah slid closer ta him an' slipped my arm around his waist. "Don't worry." John's fire wavered an' then righted itself. Kitty knelt on th' ground an' propped th' person against her hands. Th' Minotaur at th' center o' her maze was a boy, not too much older than us, nineteen mebbe, his face dipped in shadow an' his limbs arranged awkwardly.
Everyone edged closer. My stomach clenched.
"Ah know him," Ah admitted, once th' shock wore off.
"Comment (what)?" Remy asked, tightenin' his arm around me.
"Don't hold out on us, love. Who is he?" John managed.
"Hold th' light closer." He did an' we all bent in. Ah knew him th' same incomplete way Ah remembered Mystique playin' games with me or fixin' vegetable soup with mustard powder. It was a flash o' texture an' color. A scattered scene. Another basement. An older child's face floatin' over my head, laughin' because Ah hadn't known what a smurf bite was an' so he'd showed me. Not an evil trick, just th' kind that kids play on each other because they can. My skin stung where th' smurf bit me.
His buzz o' chestnut hair an' his serious dark eyes starin' at me so hard Ah'd been afraid he was drillin' two holes right through my body.
That's when Ah'd gotten scared. Ah pulled against his hand. (His hand! On my skin! But then, my powers hadn't really developed 'till later.) Only, he didn't let go.
"Why's your hair like that?" Ah knew he'd asked. His voice was distorted in my memory, risin' an' fallin' in th' middle o' words, like it was tryin' ta find its reality.
"Why's your hair like that?" Ah'd snapped back before stompin' on his instep as hard as Ah could an' dartin' from his grasp. He didn't make a sound at that, just stood there quietly, scoldin' me without sayin' a word. "What's wrong with you?" Ah'd asked, still keepin' a safe distance between me an' him.
Behind me, footsteps on th' stairs. Bare feet brushin' on carpet. "Graydon!"
"We were playin'," Ah told Mystique.
"You're done now," she'd said, pluckin' him by his upper arm. "Say 'goodbye,'" she ordered.
Shy, my voice failed me an' Ah didn't say anythin'.
Graydon. We place so much importance on a name, but Ah didn't know more than Ah had before. Rememberin' a time Ah'd seen him when we were kids didn't help me ta know why he was lit up like a Roman candle in a horrible pit of a basement on Capitol Hill. But they were expectin' me ta say somethin', right?
"Graydon. That's his name. Graydon. Mystique brought him with her ta Irene's house sometimes."
"What's he, like, doing here? And why was he glowing?"
"Time for that later, right," John gritted. "It's not bloody likely we'll find anything else in this pit, so why don't we take him and get a move on."
Remy let go of me an' hoisted Graydon up by his armpits. It took some manuverin' that Ah only saw dimly in John's fadin' light, but he managed ta get th' boy slung down his back. "Laisser les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll)," Ah heard him mutter faintly.
There was a kind o' uncomfortable silence after that, an' John cleared his throat nervously. He touched th' wall lightly with just th' fingertips o' his right hand.
"Not good, right?" Kitty asked, tiltin' her head at him.
"How far y' reckon we can go in th' dark?"
My heart fluttered an' seemed ta jump toward my throat at th' suggestion. Ah swallowed hard. "Far as ya need us ta go."
John's brilliant, relieved smile was more than enough ta disperse my anxiety for awhile. "It's just...I'm..."
"It's okay," Remy said. "We keep one hand t' de wall and everyt'ing's fine."
"Couldn't you..." Kitty burst out, lookin' at Remy.
He shook his head. "Dat's not exactly my power. Can't stop t'ings from exploding forever."
"Oh. Okay." She looked like she wanted ta say somethin' more, but she held herself back at th' last minute.
"Here." Ah maneuvered in front o' Remy, put one hand squarely against th' wall, ignorin' its dry ashiness, an' turned so Ah could twist my fingers into th' fabric of his shirt. "You won't get lost," Ah told him. My smile wobbled at th' last minute.
"Dat's two shirts you've ruined, douce (sweet)," Remy whispered. One corner o' his mouth turned up.
Sometimes ya can forget. Like knowin' that Mystique was my mom, that didn't mean much ta me at first, an' Ah didn't mind th' loss. But those little things Ah'd remembered made it harder somehow. Remy an' Ah weren't th' types for grand gestures an' long speeches, but th' little things caught me up an' made me more grateful for him than anything Ah could imagine. He dipped his head an' grazed my fingers with his lips.
He looked almost illuminated for a minute. Gold veined at th' edges. Beautiful. It was th' last thing Ah saw before John's light snapped out. Up ta that point, we'd been given a reprieve from that terrible growlin', but th' instant th' light was gone it started again. It rolled along th' hallway with us an' when th' wind started, it was even colder than it'd been before, which was impossible. Icy teeth bit into me, like Ah'd be chewed forever an' never swallowed by some terrible thing that Ah couldn't see. It was th' last place ya'd expect English class ta come ta mind, but Ah couldn't help rememberin' Dante an' how th' final punishment in his hell was somethin' along those lines.
* * *
Walking carefully in de dark, y' might t'ink dat I'd be contemplating philosophical t'ings, or planning what t' do when we got out, but t' be honest, de blindness made it hard t' t'ink at all. Not'ing behind, not'ing ahead. After awhile, felt like dere wasn't anyt'ing under or above. De only t'ings dat kept me moving were Graydon's weight on my back and Rogue's fingers in my shirt. Was so cold, even her small contact felt like a little sun in comparison t' de rest of de air.
"Everyone okay?" someone gasped. Might have been Kitty, but de sound was so distorted and de voice so strained it was hard t' tell.
"Fine," I said, shocked by how thin and reedy my voice was.
At least de growling had finally stopped. Struck me dat mebbe de house didn't want t' give Graydon up. Wondered how Rogue knew him and den I felt a pang at dat. Remembered our talk earlier 'bout Anne and John and using people for your own advantages. Not dat I was jealous, but I'd seen de way she looked at him. Far away and distracted and den she'd smiled, just a little -- some happy memory? Looking at her, I could tell dere was a door dat opened somewhere inside. She could see Graydon t'rough dat door and none of de rest of us could. Didn't make me jealous, but I knew dat I couldn't ever really know what she was seeing.
Got so wrapped up dat I almost missed it when Rogue's hand left my shirt. A broken cry.
Cursed myself for not paying better attention. "Y' okay, beb?"
"Stairs," she gasped.
"Stairs?" Kitty echoed.
"Dey weren't here before."
"That surprise you?" John put in quietly.
Shook my head automatically before I remembered dat no one could see anyt'ing. "Non. But what d' we do?"
"Wait," Rogue cautioned. "Someone grab onto me. Ah don't want ta get lost."
"Hold on a sec." Kitty brushed by me in de dark.
No one spoke for de next few, anxious minutes. Heard someone breathing hard. Finally, de word just filled my mouth and popped like a bubble over my lips. "Rogue?"
"Ah'm here." Her hands fumbled briefly over my hips before coming t' rest on my forearms.
"Careful, chére." Almost laughed, I was so relieved just t' hear her. She squeezed my arms reassuringly.
"Th' stairway goes all th' way across. Seems like th' hallway got wider too. Twenty feet mebbe."
"Well that's our decision made then, isn't it?" John said.
"Seems like," Kitty agreed.
No one moved for de longest time, den Rogue slid her hand t' de front of my shirt and tugged gently. "C'mon," she whispered. "We can go for sushi when we're home."
"I love sushi!" Kitty exclaimed softly.
"So do I, sweetheart," John said. His voice sounded weak and it made me wonder how far he'd taxed himself t' offer us light for as long as he had. "I know th' best place for it."
"If dey'll let us back in," I managed t' tease. "Dey might pack up shop if dey see us coming."
In de dark, dere was somet'ing dat sounded like a cough. I knew dat it was John laughing and I felt better immediately.
We started up de stairs, but it was like before. Surfaces seemed t' tremble and breathe under us, expanding into de space we couldn't see. My shoulders had numbed from holding Graydon's weight dere and de rest of me had numbed in de violent cold. Don't know how long we'd been climbing, slowing until we barely were moving at all. Seemed like forever.
John's voice came weak t'rough de dark. "We need ta stop."
Graydon stirred on my back. "Bon. T'ink ol' sleeping beauty here might be waking up."
"Kiss 'im, Rogue. See what he does," John offered. Normally, I would've been pissed, but I was far too distracted by how fragile he sounded, my own complaining muscles and de movements of de boy draped down my back t' bother wit' a response.
"Not funny, John," Rogue's speech sounded bitten off.
"God!" Dere was a dull thump and I guessed dat Kitty'd sat down.
Lay Graydon as carefully as I could across de stairs and collapsed next to him. Every ounce of energy seemed t' drain out of my body.
"I'm sorry," John said quietly.
"For what?" Rogue asked.
"Never thought that anything like this would happen. We're just not prepared..."
"Well, I'm not prepared to, like, roll over and die either! And I'm not prepared to sit here and listen to your misplaced guilt!"
"Kitty," John's voice was rough and barely above a whisper.
"What?" she sounded more shocked dan angry now and I realized it was de first time he'd ever called her by her first name.
"I'm not going to," he swallowed, "give up, right?"
"Good. So I'm not going to kick your ass."
Was surprisingly easy t' lay dere, even despite de cold, we were all so tired. We found each other in de dark, pressing into one another's sides for warmth. "Someone at least whistle!" Kitty burst out finally.
"Comment (what)?"
"She means it's like a bloody graveyard down here."
"Kitty..." Rogue warned. Realized wit' a trace of humor dat she had a distinct tone of voice set aside for when she was exasperated wit' her former roommate.
"She's right," John said dully. "Isn't she now? I feel like we've all been buried."
Dere was only one t'ing t' do den. Pursed my lips, stiff wit' cold and exhaustion, and whistled. Was a limping, hollow sound, but it seemed t' fill up de air. One of those tricks of space dat'd been happening all along. Struggled over de first few bars of 'Cat's in de Cradle' until a deep groan from beside me brought me up short.
"Graydon?" Rogue ventured tentatively.
"Who are you?" he croaked.
* * *
Much quicker with the update this time! Hooray! (See? There's hope for me yet...)
Eileen Blazer: It'll take more than a little weirdness to get the best of 'em for sure, don't worry!
Niteflite: We'll just have to wait and see what happens when the lights come on. Right now, I'm enjoying their time in complete and utter soul-crushing darkness...
Panther Nesmith: Before July! Rock! I hope someday to be as good at writing action as a boy having sex for the first time. [dreams]
Alwaysright: Hey, thanks so much for the linkage. Sighs. I read somewhere that they've showed the last three eps of season 3 overseas (dammit) and that Rogue kisses Remy in the two part season finale. Why must they torture me with R&R-ness that is oh-so out of reach? Why?!
ishandahalf: Yes, not romantic, but I can try to sneak in hints here and there (I just can't help myself, I'm a sick girl...) Maybe someday I'll develop a soundtrack for all my fics. Or maybe my life generally. There would be many slide whistles to signify each and every time I ran into something and/or fell over.
Jean1: See, this has always been my main problem with Xavier's. It seems so silly after a while. Because it's a school and eventually everyone must move on from their alma mater (as an alum, I know whereof I speak). And plus, Kitty seems to have pretty much total control of her powers, so what is she there for, truly?
Lace123: St. John and Kitty are really okay with each other (but don't tell them I said that, they'd probably kill me...) they just got of on the totally wrong foot. Y'know who fills me with creepy horror? Graydon. No wonder the kid's messed up, a name like that...
pennytree: Thank you! I'm always so flattered when someone takes the time to read the entire series. Also awestruck. Because I'm writing piecemeal, but taken as a whole, this is one long mofo. I've really come to care for characters in the course of writing these things who I didn't give much thought to previously. John and Kitty were never really my favorites, but now I can't imagine not writing about them.
