Raven was lying on her bed with her headphones on her ears when she heard the door open. Assuming it was Rogue, Raven didn't pay much attention until she felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped. "Shhh," Evan whispered. "I didn't mean to startle ya'," he said gently. Raven let out a deep breath and smiled.
"What are ya' doin' up here?"
"I want to show you something. Come on." He grabbed her hand and yanked her off of the bed, pulling her gently down the stairs and outside where he had set up several targets. She looked up at him, her tawny eyes looking confused.
"What is this?" She asked.
"Target practice. Come on. Try to hit that target."
"Evan!"
"Come on, Raven. You can do it. Hit the target." Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "There's your first problem. You need to open your eyes." He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around hers, lifting them up until they were parallel to the target. His lips were inches from her ear, so close she could feel his breathing. "Raven, open your eyes. Now focus. Pretend that you're throwing a basketball. Focus your mind and…fire." She nodded, cracking her fingers and squinting her eyes. She felt the heat in her fingers and she pretended it was a basketball. She threw it, hitting the ground three feet away."
"I never really was any good at basketball," she said softly.
"Don't focus on the fire, focus on the target. Pretend that it's someone you don't like." Raven imagined that the target was her dad, focusing on the target, this time keeping her eyes opened, allowing Evan to hold her arms. "Now…fire,"
Poof!
"I did it! I really freakin' did it!"
"You did, you hit the target and no one got hurt." Raven giggled, throwing her arms around him. He hugged her back before hastily releasing her. She blushed and turned her tawny eyes away. "You did good. Now, try to put it out. Focus and try to cool it. You can do it." Raven obeyed, holding her hands palms down, blowing air through her lips as if she was blowing out a candle. The fire died down and she smiled gently, sighing with relief. "Good job, Raven."
"Thanks for your help, Evan." He put an arm around her to hold her close and she smiled, nuzzling into his shoulder. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her shoulder until she pulled away. "I can't do this. I can't. I need to go inside. I have…homework."
"It's summer vacation. School doesn't start for another four weeks."
"Then I need to finish my book. I'll see ya'." He watched her leave, feeling as if he had missed something.
Raven bolted up the stairs without taking a second to catch her breath until she had slammed the door shut to the closet she had hid in before. Then, she took in deep gasping breaths until her breathing returned to normal, and she realized her cheeks and hands were wet with saltwater tears. She shouldn't have let him so close. She had thought she would be fine but…She felt stupid. She felt…scared. He had held her gently and she should have known he wouldn't hurt her but she was unable to trust him. She didn't trust anyone.
But those few moments when she was in his arms…
She had felt a mixture of emotions. She felt safe and warm. She had felt protected and…loved. She realized that she had felt loved when he held her. She had only known him for a little while but she somehow knew that he was someone to trust. He wouldn't hurt her.
She opened the closet door and slid out, realizing that she'd need to find a better place to hide. Raven slunk up the stairs to her and Rogue's bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Pepper was lying on her bed, wagging his tail and tilting his head. What's the matter?
"Nothin'," she told him. He rested his head on his paws, wagging his tail.
You don't look like it was nothin', he growled. She glared in his direction, a glare meant to silence. It worked. Rogue came in then and she looked at Raven with a concerned look in her green eyes. She sat down on the corner of Raven's bed, gripping her hand gently.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm going for a walk. You comin' Pepper?" Pepper nodded and stood, leaping off the bed and following her out the door. Once outside, Raven finally felt like she was able to settle down. The sun was hot on her neck and she could feel the skin on her shoulders burning, but she didn't she didn't care, though she wished she had put a t-shirt over her tank-top. She was used to the heat. She was, after all, from the south. In Mississippi, a half an inch of snow and the whole town shut down. Pepper darted a little ahead of her, barking at some birds, wagging his tail jovially. Raven smiled, watching him. His brown eyes met hers, asking with them before he asked mentally, Are you alright?
"Yeah. I just need sometime to think. I need to walk off some energy." Pepper nodded, lunging forward again, barking at a pair of squirrels. Raven giggled.
The sun had started to go down, and Raven welcomed the cool breeze. Pepper suddenly stopped dead, his nose twitched, his tail standing straight up as he growled low under his breath. Raven turned in the direction her dog was staring. She realized that she had wandered far off from the institute and she had found herself walking past the old abandoned factory. Rogue had told her that the place had been closed for around ten years.
So why was there a figure moving in front of the window? And why was there a hole in the chain link fence? Raven, where are you going?
"I checking this out," she replied, slinking into the gap between the metal.
Wait Raven! he called, slinking through the fence after her. Pepper crawled on his belly and Raven imitated him, getting a flashback of her and Rogue, age seven, and Pepper slinking through the backyard, playing commando in the rain. She laughed, envisioning Rogue's mother stomping out on the back porch, hands on her hips. Raven, Marie, get ya' rear-ends in this house before you catch ya' death a' cold! Pepper, I'm surprised at you for indulging their playing out in the rain. Pepper had always kept them out of trouble, being more reliable then a babysitter. She tried to shut out his voice in her mind, telling her that this wasn't safe.
They hid behind the bushes, attempting to hear what was going on inside. Raven hears voices, but they were muffled and unrecognizable. She looked up on the roof and saw a skylight. With a wry smile, she began to climb up the rain pipe. Raven! Don't leave me down here! Pepper whimpered. Raven stepped back down and hoisted Pepper on her back. He gripped her shoulders with his front paws and locked his back legs around her waist as she began to climb again. When they reached the roof, Pepper leaped off of her back, digging his claws into the shingles of the roof, whimpering slightly.
"Don't be such a puppy," Raven admonished, climbing up the slanted roof towards the skylight. Pepper leaped back on her back, unable to get good traction. They reached the skylight and the roof finally leveled out, allowing Pepper to walk on his own. Raven put her ear to the glass, trying to hear. She heard the voices, but the words were still unrecognizable. "I'm goin' in," Raven whispered. Pepper shook his head.
Raven!
"Hush, mutt," she snapped, unlatching the window and sliding in. She carefully groped for something to hold on to and she gingerly held onto the window. She whimpered softly as she dangled on the window. She looked down, relieved to see that there was nobody in the room. "Pepper, help me up." She felt teeth tugging at the back of her tank-top, trying to help her up. She suddenly heard the door open and two men entered the room. Raven gasped and bit her lip to silence herself. The dog pulled harder.
The two men sat down in chairs across from each other, and began to talk again, but Raven was too panicked to worry about listening. She locked her legs just above her arms and scrambled back up on the roof, panting. Pepper licked her cheek comfortingly. "I wanna see what they're up to. It's probably illegal," she whispered.
Raven! What if they have guns?
"I'll roast 'em."
You can't aim.
"Evan helped me. I'll be fine. Stay!" She eased her way carefully over the roof and out of sight. Pepper whimpered, debating on weather or not to follow her. His normally flawless obedience told him to stay where he was told, but his devotion to Raven told him to follow, just for the simple purpose of relaxing her.
Raven searched until she found a window on the top floor, far away from where the voices and close to the floor where she wouldn't break her neck. She heard a noise behind her as Pepper crawled across the roof to sit at her heel. "I thought I told you to stay."
When have you ever listened to me?
"I listened to you when you asked me not to have you fixed."
And no one appreciates that more then me. Raven giggled. Raven dangled down, and pushed open the window, climbing inside and pulling Pepper in behind her.
"Now, be quiet." Pepper nodded, placing his nose to the ground and inhaling deeply.
Shoes. Dirty ones. Maybe motor oil too. Raven nodded as she tiptoed behind the sniffing dog. He turned the corner quietly and led her down the steps. The floor was grey linoleum and the walls were made of cement bricks, making it very cold inside. Raven shivered. This way, Pepper encouraged as they neared the door to the room the two men sat in. Raven could here voices, finally able to make out the words. The older male was speaking.
"I thought I heard something upstairs a moment ago. Go check it out."
"I'm sure it's nothing. It's probably just rats." The older man nodded. Raven breathed a silent sigh of relief. Pepper reciprocated her feelings with a wag of his tail.
"I've been watching them. They have a new girl. I red-headed pyro with a dog. She's pretty weak, though." Raven gasped slightly, realizing that they were talking about her. Pepper drew back his lips, showing his teeth, making no sound.
"When do we make our move?"
"Tomorrow night. We'll storm in while Xavier is away and take as many of the kids as we can."
"Do we have enough men?"
"Yes of course."
"What about the red-head? She's no use to us."
"She will be once she's been trained a bit."
"And the dog?"
"We'll drown him." Raven gasped and gripped at Pepper's fur.
I think it's time to excuse ourselves, Pepper said and Raven nodded, backing out slowly. Once she was a safe distance away, she turned a bolted, Pepper close behind. She didn't see a door so she decided to go out the way she came in, running up the stairs. Panting, she wrenched herself into the room she had came in and leaned against the wall, panting.
"Did you here that, Pepper?" she whispered. "They're planning to attack us and use us for their own gain." Pepper growled in response. "We have to get out of here and warn the others. We have to-aggggh!" Raven shrieked as she felt arms lock around her waist as another man pounced heavily on Pepper, holding his mouth shut.
"What do you think you're doing, missy?" said a deep male voice.