(See Chapter 1 for full disclaimer and legend)
Lance walked out of the bathroom and into the hallway, thoughts of how to approach Pietro buzzing through his mind. He didn't know what those jerks had said to Pietro earlier and he didn't want to say anything that could upset his younger friend anymore. Lance sighed, not looking forward to the potentially awkward conversation that he had resolved to have. He opened the door to his room and decided to start rummaging around through the piles of dirty clothes. He needed something that wasn't too offensive to wear before talking to the downy haired speed-demon.
After a good fifteen minutes of searching, Lance managed to pull out a pair of faded, holey jeans and black shirt. He looked at the only clean clothes he owned and decided that doing laundry would be a good thing. Tomorrow.
As Lance pulled on his jeans, his mind wandered back to the dream he'd had earlier that afternoon. Those demons had been creepy, but he had been really horrified when he'd seen Pietro at their mercy. He'd never seen his friend like that; helpless, chained, terrified… he had wanted nothing more than to save him, take him away, get him out of the grasp of those demons and whatever horrors they had intended upon his lithe body. Lance briefly wondered if there were some connection between Duncan and the monsters in his dream. Oh, there was a possibility, but he didn't really believe in dream reading. He quickly dismissed it as having been brought about by the heat and his worries about his friend. Those voices, however, kept nagging at the back of his mind. 'What did they mean by saying that Pietro was lost?'Lance wondered. 'It doesn't make any sense!'
Lance could still hear their wicked voices echoing in his mind as he wandered around the Brotherhood boarding house. The laughter seemed to mock him as he failed to find Pietro in any of the small, dirty rooms. He stumbled upon Todd and Freddy who were sitting in the kitchen, seemingly in a serious discussion, although he doubted that Todd could be serious for too long.
"Hey guys," he announced, as he leaned against the doorframe leading into the small room. "Have you guys seen Pietro?"
"Uh…" Todd trailed off.
"Small guy, right?" Freddy jumped in. "White hair? Talks a mile a minute? Uh, yeah… I have seen a guy like that… he lives here, doesn't he?" Freddy gave Todd a questioning look, appearing to expect a serious answer. He was able to maintain the semblance of a straight face, while Todd, on the other hand, was busy repressing laughter behind his webbed fingers.
Lance rolled his eyes as he stepped into the kitchen to lean over the table at the duo. "I'm serious guys," he said past a grin. "I need to talk to him. It's important."
"Oh well, in that case," Todd said, giggling. "We don't know. We haven't seen him since he left an hour ago."
"Well, we assumed it was him leaving." Freddy added. "He didn't say anything to us. We only heard the door slam."
"Uh-huh." Lance nodded, growing somewhat distressed. He'd have to wait until later to talk to Pietro, and he was sure that he'd have lost his nerve by then. "Well, if you see him around, could you let me know? He's been acting kinda weird lately and I wanted to talk to him."
"Will do, yo!" Todd smiled at him before turning his attention to Freddy and the book they had been working with before being interrupted.
Lance left his friends in the kitchen and decided to look again to be sure that Pietro wasn't around. He wasn't in the TV room and a brief look outside confirmed that he'd officially taken off.
"Damnit…" Lance halfheartedly swore under his breath as he flopped down on his bed. "Guess I'm gonna have to wait to talk to him then." He stared up at the ceiling, not really thinking of anything in particular before he remembered his dream. 'What the hell was that, anyways? I've never seed Pietro like that. It was freaky,' Lance shivered at the image. It had been so vivid and Pietro had been so beaten and broken, but the look on Pietro's face is what had cut through to Lance's heart. Those eyes were begging him for help… or was it something more? Lance swore again, sitting upright and shifting to look out his window. 'Where the hell could he be…' Lance weighed his options. He could go about looking outside for Pietro, but knew that his chances of finding the speed-demon were slim at best. His best bet would be to wait until Pietro returned home on his own. In the meantime, Lance mused, he could at least be productive and do laundry.
x-+-x
Lance could see the setting sun through the dirty glass in the laundry room. The last load was in the dryer and his stomach began to grumble as he wondered what would be done about dinner. He wandered into the kitchen and found Freddy whipping up something that smelled good but looked awful. "What IS that, man?" he asked, jokingly pinching his nose for effect as he leaned over the pot to inspect its contents. He gave Freddy a wide grin and slapped him on the shoulder before gracefully flopping into a chair. "I'm kidding, man," he added when he saw the look on Freddy's face. "It smells good, it just looks… er, different. What is it?"
Freddy grinned and turned back to tend to his creation. "It's… a surprise," he said. Lance could hear the grin spread across the large mutant's face, even though his back was turned.
"Well, when do we get to eat?" Todd asked as he walked into the room. "I'm starving!"
"Pretty soon, guys. Hey, have you guys seen Pietro?" Freddy looked at his friends, hoping that their little speed-demon buddy had returned by now.
"Nah, man," Todd said, his full attention focused on writing in a conspicuous looking book. "He'll turn up anyways, he always does."
"Yeah… I guess you're right, Todd," Lance sighed. "I just wanted to talk to him about today. Duncan pissed me off, I think they pissed Pietro off too… I just wanted to make sure that he's okay."
The three brotherhood members ate their dinner in silence. It was a wonderful supper, but their thoughts were focused on their missing friend. Normally none of them would admit to worrying about anybody other than themselves, but their situation had thrown them all together and they'd grown to like each other. It was the closest thing to a family that any of them had ever had. When one of them hurt, they all hurt. When one of them was in trouble, they all helped out, despite the fact that more often than not, it got them into plenty of trouble with the Xmen. The brotherhood was nothing if not stubborn.
Lance announced that he was going to bed early and said goodnight to his friends as he got up from the table and left the kitchen. He needed to clear his thoughts, and the heat from the stove was causing the beginnings of a headache to tingle in his temples. His room was nice and cool as he walked over to the window, leaning out and breathing in some night air. It was a moonless night and the only light outside came from the stars and streetlamps.
Lance stared at the landscape until his eyes adjusted to the dark. The barren lawn of the boardinghouse and the few trees that dotted the border of the property were dark but they seemed to contain even darker shadows within, moving with the wind. Lance looked harder at the trees, the shadows dancing among the leaves seemed to blur and blend together the more he concentrated. He could have sworn that he had seen a patch of white dancing among those shadows, but he looked again and it was gone. Shaking his head he peeled off his clothes and crawled into bed, pulling a thin sheet over his body. He lay there in the dark for several minutes, his thoughts revolving around his pale, elfish friend who seemed to be the centre of his focus over the past few days. Moments later, his eyes slid shut and he drifted into an uneasy sleep with familiar dreams.
End Chapter 9
