Of Tetris and Dying Friends
It hurt. It hurt to stand, to walk, to breathe…hurt to move. On top of that, it was a night of cold wind and driving rain, the streetlamps barely visible through the sheets of water. All he could hear were voices pulling him in all directions.
"Just give up. You ain't gonna make it, yo."
"Keep goin'! You're almost there!"
"Where you goin' fool? What you think this is gonna help?"
"Help me!"
But he kept on, though he really wasn't sure where he was going. His legs were dragging him through the storm, and he hadn't a clue as to where they were taking him. Only one thought spurred him on: I gotta get home.
It was late when Lance finally turned onto the street that contained the Brotherhood house. He checked his watch as he sipped flat soda from the 24-hour mini-mart on the corner through a straw. 3:47. Lance pulled his coat closer to him against the crisp, clear, windless, night. Lance gave a frustrated half-grunt when he saw a lump lying in the middle of the driveway.
"Dammit, Pietro! Can't you put your shit somewhere else?" Lance walked up to the heap, reaching down to pick it up, when he noticed pale skin under torn clothes.
Lance's drink fell to the ground and rolled away as he knelt down to roll the lump over, confirming his fears.
"Todd?! Dude, what happened? Hey, Todd! Todd!" Lance was beginning to panic. Todd wasn't moving.
"Fuck, man! Wake up!" Lance looked around, but the Brotherhood home was quiet and dark, and the road was empty.
"Come on, Todd…come on…please, man…dude you'll never hear me beg, but wake up! Please!" Lance's voice went quiet. He saw the state of his friend (though, now that he thought about it, Todd really was more of a brother): The soaked clothing that he was sure was white when he had seen Todd that morning, was now stained a light pinkish-red…the circles around Todd's eyes, bruises mottling sheet-white skin…one leg and wrist twisted the wrong way…something had happened, and Todd was in trouble.
After one last attempt to wake his brother, Lance took action. Scooping Todd into his arms, he was immediately alarmed at the unhealthy weight that Todd had.
"I shoulda paid more attention to you, dude…always getting into trouble…" Looking down at the limp form in his arms, he gave a sort of choked sob, and cursed himself.
"I'll get ya help, man. I swear I will." Lance looked around again in a futile attempt to find help. He was going through the list of options in his mind. It was short.
"Damndamndamndamn…. I can't take you to the hospital, they ask questions there…"
Lance was talking to himself in a panicked, hushed voice. Todd's skin was frigid against his hands, and Lance was suddenly more aware of the soaked clothes spreading red-tainted water on his shirt.
"You're gonna freeze out here, man." With another angry growl, he leaned and whispered into Todd's ear, "You're gonna kill me when you find out, dude, but I've run out of possibilities…. I'm takin' you to the Mansion." Without a second glance to the Brotherhood home, he rushed off, cutting his way through yards and wet grass.
Kurt Wagner was lounging in the control room of the X Mansion. It was late—nearly four in the morning, but having drunk a full bottle of Mountain Dew several hours ago, he was still on a caffeine buzz. The Professor, Logan, Jean, and a few others had left the night before to attend some Mutant's Rights Convention in Aspen, and weren't due to return until the following morning. So Kurt, bored and alone, was watching the black and white camera screens flicker and change from one lens to the next. Taking a few more Doritos from the bag and wiping his furred blue fingers on the wall, he tapped on the keyboard, looking at a screen that currently displayed Tetris.
"Aw, man!" Kurt cried out and sat up straight as the tiles reached the top of the screen. "That was my record!" He glared at the offending screen, another game already begun. Kurt tapped lazily at a key and the screen flicked back to the Mansion's side camera. Quiet as usual.
Kurt picked up the forgotten bag of Doritos with his tail and tapped at a snowy screen in an effort to clear it from the fuzz. Another tap of a key with one furry toe cleared the monitor. There was a figure at the front gate that had tripped the security lights, and Kurt squinted at it.
He choked on a Dorito.
"Lance?!" Through his coughing fit, he realized he should do something. Lance was yelling silently at the camera in Kurt's monitor, carrying something in his arms. Kurt tapped the intercom button and the room was suddenly bursting with sound that echoed off the steel walls and back to the Kurt. Slipping off the chair and landing with a thud, he clapped a hand over one ear and leaned his other ear on his shoulder in an attempt to block out the yelling.
"Alvers!" Kurt scrambled up and shouted into the microphone. The yelling stopped, and Kurt glanced around to see if anyone had woken from the noise, but everything was still quiet. Kurt sighed in relief.
He watched as Lance moved to the intercom at the front gate.
"Wagner? Hey, lemme in!"
"Why?! What are you doing here?"
"Just let me in! I'll explain!"
"Oh, no you don't! I'm not letting you in here. I know what happened the last time…"
"Let me in, Wagner! I'm in no mood!"
"Nein! I'm not letting you in! Say goodbye now, Alvers…"
"Let me in, Wagner." A black glint appeared in Lance's eyes, and they rolled back in his head. The ground began to quake, and split all around Lance. Kurt saw the monitor shake and go out, and it didn't take an idiot to figure out what Lance was doing.
"Okay, okay! Stop! I'll meet you at the door!" Kurt pressed a button and bamfed.
The gates of the Mansion swung in, and Lance stepped out of his self-induced concrete hole and walked up the drive. Todd was as still as a corpse, and looked rather like one too. Lance cradled Todd to his chest to prevent as much jostling as he could. Lance looked up and saw the blue-furred mutant waiting for him at the door, as he said he would be.
Kurt went towards Lance. "Alright, Alvers…make it quick…"
Lance pushed past Kurt and into the carelessly open door of the Mansion.
"Hey!" Kurt bamfed back inside. Lance was moving towards the staircase leading upstairs.
"Lance, not that way!" Kurt said quietly. He moved around to Lance's front and got a good look, for the first time, of the form in his arms. Kurt gave a short gasp.
"Look, Blue Boy, he needs help, so…I'm asking you to help Todd." Lance finished with a small sigh. Kurt's face hardened.
"What happened?"
"Later, Wagner. Help him first."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong!"
"He's gonna die, you fucker! Get him some help!!" The marble floor of the Mansion was beginning to shake.
Kurt caught his balance as a wave of quake shook the ground. "Lance, stop! If anyone else comes down here, you won't get help at all! You're lucky I was the one at the door!"
The quakes came to a sudden halt, and Kurt stumbled again. Lance was panting slightly, but his eyes were clear.
"I don't know what happened, Blue. He was like this when I found him…somethin' bad happened to him…" Lance trailed off in a dejected sort of voice.
Kurt felt sympathetic despite himself. Damn his kindly instincts!
"Why didn't you take him to the hospital?"
"They ask questions there, Wagner! I'm not about to get him put into some orphanage or some shit like that!"
Kurt nodded, understanding now. "Okay, okay." Kurt nodded. "Follow me." Kurt moved off to the left and opened a door containing a staircase going downwards.
"Watch the second step, man."
"The second? Why?"
"Logan in a rage. There is no first step."
Lance snorted and stepped over the hole of the first step. Down a stairwell, and several flights later, they reached a lab under the mansion where none other than Henry McCoy was typing something on a laptop computer.
"Mr. McCoy?"
Hank turned to the voice with a slight jump. "Oh, my! Kurt! I wasn't expecting anyone this evening. What brings you down here this early?"
Kurt moved out of the way and Lance came into the lab.
"Mr. Alvers? Is that Mr. Tolensky?" Hank hopped off his stool and went to Lance.
"Look, McCoy, just call him Todd. Tolensky's too long, and I don't think an unconscious guy will care if you don't use formalities."
Hank smiled. "Of course, Mr. Alvers. If you'll just lay Todd on that bed over there, we can begin." He went off down the lab and began to collect tools on a stainless steel table.
Lance laid Todd on the table ever so gently, a stroke of tenderness that Kurt had never seen in the usually tough and unforgiving Lance showed through. Lance ran a hand through Todd's damp hair, running the backs of his fingers over Todd's cheek.
It was an oddly sweet gesture, and Kurt watched with growing compassion. Kurt glanced to the clock ticking quietly on the wall. It read 5:24.
"Listen, Alvers, You had better go. Scott gets up early, and the Professor will be back soon…"
Lance gave Todd's hand one last gentle squeeze before turning to Kurt, rubbing a hand over his eyes quickly.
"Wagner…I'll be back tomorrow. Expect me the same time." Lance grabbed a fistful of Kurt's shirt collar and lifted him clear off his feet.
"If he's not alive and well when I get back, you're going to pay for it." He dropped the struggling Kurt to his feet before turning to the door. He cast another look to Todd, and then walked slowly up the stairs.
Kurt recovered and turned back to the table with the prone Todd. He glared at Todd's head. "You hear that, Toad? Don't die."