WARNING: Mentions of child abuse later in chapter. Nothing graphic, just a heads up. A/N is at the bottom of the chappie.
Sewers, Seattle
"Ew! It's smelly!" Jessie cries from atop Alec's shoulders, wrinkling her nose in disgust as the group walks through the sewers. Tru nods, waving her hand in front of her nose.
"Usually sewers don't smell too good, Jess." she sighs, jumping a bit as a rat runs in front of her and pulling the straps of their backpack higher up on her shoulders. "Don't you remember how the Ninja Turtles complained a lot?" she asks, and Jessie looks at Googly Gaglia, who's walking next to Alec, and giggles.
"I just thought they were whiney." she says, and Googly Gaglia's imaginary laughter fills the sewer. Everyone in the tunnel, aside from Jessie and her imaginary friend, roll their eyes. Tru turns to Biggs as Jessie rambles herself into an argument with Googly Gaglia about if Donatello or Raphael was the captain of the TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for those of you who aren't fanatic five year olds).
"So, on to TC?" Tru asks nervously, and Biggs sends her a reassuring smile. She toys with the hem of her shirt, picking off strings to ease away the apprehensiveness. I hate being new places...I should just know not to go anywhere new by now. she reprimands herself mentally.
"After the sewers, it gets better. I promise." he says, lifting the manhole cover and climbing out first, giving her his hand to help her up. "See?"
"You're right. This almost makes up for the rats." she smiles, taking it all in. Transgenics walk through the streets, not afraid to be themselves- X's, transhumans, anomalies, all are represented. Tru's smile grows, and she's not in the least bit scared of the people so feared by most. I'm home. she thinks, and Biggs watches on, knowing how it feels to finally have someone to relate with.
"Welcome to Oz." Max says, sending Jessie a smile. The little girl beams happily, singing the "Unbored and I'm in Termninal City and Tru still doesn't like horsies much and Princess Nizbit's beautyful" song. Tru just groans, while everyone who passes them stifles a laugh.
The head into HQ, Biggs and Tru both not realizing that he's still holding her hand from when he helped her onto the street, and Jessie singing, perched on Alec's back. She looks at Max, staring at her hair, observing it. "Googly Gaglia says your hair's prettyful." she says shyly, and Max smirks.
"Oh, um...tell her thank you." she says, sending Alec a confused look. How, exactly, can you address an invisible five-year-old? Jessie giggles, shaking her head.
"I can't do that, silly. She's on Neptune, playing with the ponies." she says, drawing odd looks from everyone besides Tru. They look to her for help, and she just laughs.
"Space cowgirl, remember?" she says as they walk into HQ, the heart of the transgenic city.
"Hey guys," a dark haired, tan man who looks awfully a lot like Max greets them. "Who're you?" he asks bluntly, earning him a hit in the ribs from the blonde girl next to him.
"Tru. The munchkin goes by Jessie." she says, smiling nervously.
"Syl, and bigmouth here is Krit." she says, smiling at her boyfriend. "So, you guys X's?"
"We're special." Jessie says, and Tru reaches up and holds out a cookie. Jessie grabs madly for it, but Tru keeps it just out of reach.
"You have to be quiet." she says, and Jessie nods, eyeing the cookie hungrily.
"Yupsyups. Mmm....cookie!" she practically drools, and Tru looks at her, determined to win.
"No bored song?" she asks, and Jessie shakes her head. She hands the little girl the cookie, and Jessie squeals happily, munching on the cookie while watching Tru be all shy-ish.
"Sorry. Need her to be quiet so that I can explain without her ranting." she says, and they nod, all glancing in turn to the little girl, who waves. "We can do things that normal people can't, but we weren't created in a lab. I don't even know what we are, to be honest. I guess mutants would be the correct term." she muses, shaking her head. "Anyway, Biggs said we should visit, so we're here." she concludes, and Jessie nods, wanting to be in on the story, too.
"Well, welcome to TC." Krit says, and Syl smiles at Jessie.
"Thanks...anyone up for giving me a tour?" she asks, wanting to get familiar with it. Biggs nods.
"Sure, I'll show you around." he says, and Jessie pouts.
"I don't want a tour-y thingamabober. I'm bored." she whines, drawing each word into about fifteen syllables.
"Jess, how many times have I told you that you should be polite and not pout in public? Besides, pouting isn't pretty," she says, and Biggs smirks, recalling how cute Tru was when she pouted. "Anyway, wouldn't you like to go for a nice walk?" Jessie shakes her head firmly, crossing her arms. Krit has to hold Syl back from running to play with her.
"I just want to play 'I'm a pretty princess' with Googly Gaglia." she says, and beside her, a very purple (imaginary) girl nods. Syl smiles happily.
"I'll watch her." she says, and Jessie sends her a smile and waves, and Krit gives, too.
"Really? Oh, thank you guys sooo much." Tru says, warning Jessie to be a good girl. She hands the little girl her crown from the backpack, and she squeals. "Oh, and Krit...stay away from 'I'm a pretty princess', no matter how much she wants to." she says, and he nods.
"You coming?" Biggs says, pretending to walk away without her. She runs to catch up with him, twirling so that she's in front of him, blocking the door.
"It's not polite to leave without a lady. Didn't anybody every tell you that?" she asks, smirking. He rolls his eyes.
"I took an entire course on Etiquette, thank you." he says, leading her into the streets, "But I knew you would run after me..." he says, and her jaw practically drops to the floor. She looks at him with those big, violet eyes, and smirks. And he knows he's going down in this verbal spar.
"Please. I don't need a man to make me happy." she says, hitting him lightly on the shoulder. She looks at him, seemingly lost in thought. "Then again, even if I did, you probably wouldn't be much help."
Biggs stills for a moment and looks at her. She giggles and sprints off, trying to find a hiding place before he catches her, as he finally realizes that she's gone, through his apparent shock at being burned (Manticore-alums are usually unbeatable in the wit department), and goes in for the hunt.
She runs through the streets, trying to find a good place to hide, but knowing that his transgenic eye will scour everything. She finally spots an old cardboard box that a normal-sized girl wouldn't fit in, and distorts her body slightly so that she can slide easily inside.
She hears his footsteps echoing down the street, slowing down and going into stealth mode. She feels him walk by her, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. "Come on, Tru, I know you're here." he says, dismissing the box, because there's no way that a grown person could fit in it.
She silently eases herself out of the box, stepping out into the middle of the street. "You're supposed to say 'Olly Olly Oxenfree!'" she shouts to him just as he's about to turn the corner. He whips around, grinning.
"Well, I've only played Escape and Evade, I'm not quite used to the Ordinaries version." he says, walking towards her slowly as the skies open up and it starts raining, not an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence in Seattle.
"I'm sure Jessie would be glad to teach you." Tru laughs, not caring that she's in the middle of a thunderstorm. They come to about six inches apart, and just freeze, neither one knowing what to do or say.
"Let's get inside before you catch pneumonia." he says, and they hurry into a yet-to-be-restored building, hurrying up the stairs and into one of the open rooms.
Tru stops when she enters the room, forgetting about everything for a moment- TC, Biggs, the rain, the whole world- as she sees the room. Lightening strikes, lighting the room through the windows, giving Tru an incredible rush, as it always does. But this time, she ignores it, searching the room.
Light colored wood lies on the floor, a flat surface just waited to be danced upon. An old couch and a few chairs litter the room, but they could be easily removed. She closes her eyes, picturing a bar attached to the wall over by the window and mirrors placed in the front of the room. Perfect.
"Watcha thinking about, Tru?" a deep voice asks from behind her, startling her out of her daydream. She turns around, tripping and falling into his arms.
"Graceful, Tru. Real graceful." she mutters to herself, straightening out. Biggs's arms stay wrapped around her. She looks at him, confused as to why he won't let her out. He just smirks, that cute little smirk that drives her crazy...Stop it, Tru!! You're on the verge of obsessing!!!
"You never answered my question." he explains, letting his arms drop. She laughs softly, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
"It's stupid, really. You don't want to hear it." she says, blushing shyly.
"Sure I do." He tells her, leaning against the doorway.
"It's just...this is a space that dancers dream about." she says, blushing harder as she says it. He looks around, imagining her dancing around the space, and she walks over to the window and watching the rain.
"You dance?" he asks, feigning shock. She nods, blushing to the roots of her hair.
"Well, it was really the only thing I got a chance to do when I was back at home." she says, then stops, realizing her mistake too late. She looks at Biggs, who motions for her to come sit down with him. She walks to the couch, sitting down with a sigh, realizing that the truth will come out sooner or later.
"My mom wasn't really the nicest lady in the whole wide world. She didn't let me outside after my dad died." she says, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to protect herself from the memories. "I guess she really didn't want anyone to know that she was old enough to be a mother." she says with a hollow laugh that would send a pang of sadness through even the iciest of hearts. "Or maybe I just wasn't good enough."
"Tru, don't say tha-" he starts, but she cuts him off, unable to tell the story unless not interrupted.
"It is, I've accepted that, Biggs. She didn't love me, and that's ok. Just listen, if you want to know. I can't do this if you interrupt." she says, and he nods, putting his arm around her. "She never let me out of our backyard, which was surrounded by a ten-foot-high fence, for privacy reasons. I couldn't do anything without her watching me, criticizing me, punishing me. But one thing I could do was dance." She says, her eyes lighting up. "It kept me safe from her. As long as I danced, I could hide from her, and she wouldn't get mad at me, because she said that all dancers are skinny, and that I would be skinnier if I was a dancer." she says, subconsciously squeezing the muscle in her stomach and shuddering, truly believing that she's fat.
"She cut out pictures of old movie stars, from before the Pulse, and taped them all over my room." she says, unshed tears glimmering in her eyes as another bolt of lightening strikes, lighting the room in that weird blue-ish purple light for a split second. "She wouldn't let me eat until I was skinny enough, which was never. I had to sneak food from the pantry. Or when we had company, she'd tell me to eat in front of them, and throw it up." she says, and Biggs tightens his hold on her, not able to believe that someone could do this to their child.
"I was never good enough for her...my own mother didn't even love me." she whispers, still unable to believe that. "Am I that bad of a person?" she asks Biggs, fear and rejection written over her face, the eyes of a scared little girl replacing the strong, determined ones that normally lie there.
"You are the best person I know." he tells her truthfully, and he pulls her into his lap. She lays her head on his chest, hugging his waist tightly. "No one could not love you, even if they tried." he tells her, and she closes her eyes, too tired to cry.
"I just want things to be good again." she whispers hoarsely, trying to stay strong. "It should have been me who died." she tells him, a sentence that has haunted her since she was six.
Biggs just holds her, trying to take in all that she's said. One word comes to mind- Hell. That's what she's been through. His Tru...her pain haunts her....his Tru? He wonders, pulling her tighter as another lightening bolt strikes. He gets a shock from her, but doesn't care, and keeps stroking her hair, whispering that she'll be all right.
God, life sucks...
A/N: hey, y'all!! How'd you like? I have to get off the computer like yesterday, so this is gonna be short- tell me whatcha think, PLEASE!!! I love, love LUV input, so just say the word and I'll try to find a way to make you happy. Also, please tell me if you think that Biggs and Tru are progressing weird.
As always, luv ya forever!!!!
Moll