It was Doug's first day out of the infirmary, and he and Roberto were already causing mayhem around the mansion. They had filled shampoo bottles with mayonnaise and put shampoo in the mayonnaise jar, strung up obnoxious signs outside of Raven's room, and glued Hank's glasses to the laboratory ceiling. They were known for their occasional pranks, but this was a bit much. The Professor had already called them in to see him by lunch in an attempt to quell their overzealous behavior. They chalked it up to just being a celebration, and he let them off with a warning.
Que, on the other hand, had kept more to herself. She spent more time either locked in her old room in the girls hall or in the trees and on the roof where no one could find her. The Professor had made several attempts to to talk to her, but she easily evaded him by either ensuring they were never in the same room and blocking him when he tried to send her telepathic messages to request her meet him.
She had a harder time escaping Raven and Storm. When they could find her, they were able to scale or fly to whatever height necessary. Que wouldn't talk to them either though. She would just say she was fine, and then leave whether they were done speaking or not.
None too soon, Aasir kept his promise and returned to the mansion after spending Christmas with his family. Before he could make it through the doors, the Professor requested him in his study.
"What could he need me for so soon?" Aasir thought light heartedly, striding into the mansion.
"Happy Christmas, Prof!" Aasir said jovially, entering into the study.
Charles couldn't help but smile at the dark skinned boy. He always had a way to brighten a room.
"And to you Aasir. We have really missed you around here. Especially Que, I might add." he said raising his eyebrows and giving the youth a knowing smile.
Aasir blushed "So what's up? I haven't been here long enough to cause any trouble. At least I don't think I have."
The Professor laughed. "No Aasir. Roberto and Doug have that covered for you. I wanted to update you on some recent events here at the mansion, and I wanted to make sure I told you myself. We may need your assistance as well," he said more seriously.
"Of course Professor. I will do what I can," Aasir replied, confused by the Professor's more serious tone.
The pair settled in with some tea and began to discuss the recent events.
Que was reclining at almost the highest point in her favorite elm tree. She had just run off Storm and Raven for what seemed like the millionth time and was relieved to finally be alone again. She appreciated everyone's concern, but she was fine. She didn't need anyone looking after her, especially when it could get them hurt. Que was responsible for what had happened to Doug, plain and simple. For the past several days, she had been planning how she should move forward.
She knew she would have to leave. There was no way she was going to attract that maniac to the mansion again. She cared about these people more than she had for anyone in an extremely long time, and they risked their lives to protect her. This was also part of the reason she hadn't been able to leave yet. Que knew she needed to leave, but she really didn't want to. It was selfish, but at the same time leaving would need to be carefully planned. There was no way any of them would just let Que leave of her own free will now.
Que had devised a general outline of how to leave though. It just required a little more time for tinkering. She could probably leave within the next day or two. Que had already lined up some places where she could live off the grid, gathered some miscellaneous supplies, and built a device that could detect the dark matter. Packing wouldn't be a problem either. Her backpack was fitted with a digitizing device she had created a while back. It could scan and digitize small nonliving matter, and store it as binary code. She had gone into hiding once before, and this shouldn't be any different right? Grant it, this time there was a sub-humanoid dark matter freak coming after her.
The hardest part that she need to focus on now though would be getting out without everyone in the mansion knowing or trying to find and stop her.
As she was contemplating this she spotted a hawk soar through the sky over the mansion. It moved so gracefully on the wind with its red belly and speckled wings. It drew closer to her spot, and she could see it was a red-shouldered hawk.
"Could it be?" she thought hopefully.
It grew closer and closer and made Que duck as it swooped in, perching on the branch nearest her. He was beautiful.
"Aasir! You're back!" Que said excitedly. She only found out about his gift back in November, and could never get over how amazing he could be in his animal forms. He had about made her wet herself when he popped out behind a tree in the form of a wild boar. That form was definitely not one of her favorites.
The bird cocked it's head and blinked at her before sailing down to a lower branch.
"Okay! I'll be right down," she called after him. When she glanced back down, she could see Aasir, on the ground. He had taken the shape of a chocolate lab, its tail vigorously wagging. He could be such a show off.
She clambered down the branches as fast as she could, a bit too fast. Before she reached the bottom, her foot missed a branch, and she crashed down the last six feet, landing with a loud thud. The lab made a strange snorting bark that sounded almost like laughter. Then, it bounded over, sprang on top of her, and licked her face.
"Ah! Aasir! Get off! That is so gross! And for goodness sake will you turn back to yourself!" she laughed shoving him off her chest. Aasir flounced about a little more, and Que watched in awe as he gracefully morphed back into a human boy. "Better? I thought you liked my wild side?" Aasir called to her.
"Aasir! I am glad you are back," she said running over to catch up with him.
"I made you a promise didn't I?" he said smiling. "How have you been? I heard there's been some commotion around here."
She gave him a sideways glance " Who have you been talking to?"
"Oh, you know, just everyone," he laughed. "Fill me in! If I'd known things would be eventful, I might have stayed myself!"
Que cast his a sideways glance. She had a sneaking suspicion he already knew exactly what happened. She had been so excited to see him that she hadn't even thought about how it might affect her plans for leaving. He would definitely be a problem, there was no doubt about that.
"We can talk more about that later. I'm sure you've heard plenty from everyone else. Tell me about your trip home! Your family!" she gushed attempting to turn his spark of interest to another topic.
It worked for the most part. She could tell he wouldn't drop the subject entirely, but Aasir willingly changed topics. She knew him well enough that he would table their discussion and hold her to her promise of later.
Que and Aasir spent the entire afternoon together. They raced through the forest, both indulging in their powers some, trying to get ahead of one another. They rebuilt their ice castle and added a slide, and Que even showed him her new favorite hiding places, one being atop the mansion. By the time the sun was setting, both of them were extremely cold and hungry. No one bothered them, although Doug and Roberto snickered a little as they passed the pair in the hallway to the kitchen.
At dinner, the conversations were the loudest they'd been since Christmas Eve. Everyone was laughing and sharing various stories from interesting, exciting, and embarrassing holidays past. Though Que did not share, she enjoyed and commented on them all. All of the staff was pleased to see that she was getting back to her old self. Que had actually been absent at dinner since the event with the dark creature. She hadn't realized how much she had not just missed Aasir's company but everyone's. She hadn't realized how attached she had become to all of them. How was she supposed to leave all this behind?
After dinner, Que and Aasir headed to the library. They had often ended their days with books or something to tinker with. Today, there was a nice, warm fire built in the large marble fireplace.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Que said rummaging in her pockets.
She pulled out a small silver watch.
"Happy Christmas. I made everyone one with slight variations. Watch."
As she played with some of the buttons on the watch, a 3D holographic image appeared. It was of her and Aasir outside laughing. She had hoped on his back during a game of capture the flag. More images phased through as well as some videos; Aasir and Que in a serious discussion in class, the pair smiling at the camera while sitting under the elm tree. Aasir remembered taking that one, but he had no idea how she'd taken the others.
"It also has a holo-feature that will connect to mine. That way we can contact each other whenever we like. Only yours has that though. See?," she continued. Que turned the extra knob on the side and Aasir suddenly heard a soft tinkling sound coming from under Que's shirt. He hadn't noticed before, probably because of all the winter gear they'd been cover up in, but around Que's neck was a thin silver chain. She pulled the chain from around her neck revealing a small silver locket. It looked much older than his watch. It had an intricately woven like boarder, and there was a branch of possibly a cherry tree going across the silver sphere. At the end of the branch was a small bird. She opened her locket, and Aasir's awe filled face appeared in all its 3D holographic glory. Que's face appeared in his own item, smiling a small almost bashful half smile.
"How did you make this and how did you get these photos?" he asked amazed.
"My backpack has a recording system. I just took snapshots from different footage. The tech would be a little more complicated to explain," she replied.
"I didn't even think to get anyone anything," Aasir said guiltally.
Que just shrugged and gave him a forgiving smile, as he continued to go through the photos. "Where is your locket from? It doesn't look like just any old knick knack," Aasir asked.
"I didn't damage it. I could never do that. I just fit all the micro-tech inside a shell that could slide inside the locket," she explained.
"Yeah, but where is it from? It is beautiful," he persisted.
"It was from an old friend a long time ago," she replied finitely. Aasir was a bit put off from her tone, but he knew that it meant the locket was something very precious. She never mentioned any sort of friends from her past, so he let the conversation drop and the pair fell back into silence.
As the time passed, Aasir fiddled with his watch and Que slipped deep in thought as she sat in front of the warm fireplace. It was the look Aasir had noticed appearing on Que's face all day long when she thought he wasn't paying attention.
"Earth to Que. Are you home?" Aasir said after some time, waving his hands in front of her face.
"Hmm? Yeah. What's up?" she said coming out of her daze.
"You've just seemed a little out in space. Are you alright?" he asked.
Aasir gave Que an intense, concerned look and she knew he meant more than just in that moment. "No you too!" she moaned. "You've totally been talking to the Prof! Haven't you? I'll give you the same answer I've given them. Everything is fine."
"Are you really though?" he said quietly. "I don't want to talk about this Aasir. I'm fine," she said shortly.
They sat in silence for a long time again, avoiding each other's gaze.
"Que, yes I talked to him, and he is worried. They all are. I know we've had a ton of fun today, but whenever we stopped you seemed like you were somewhere else. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I wouldn't have said anything... I care Que," he said finally. "It is okay for you to not be okay, but don't just block me out."
Que sharply turned to Aasir, facing him full on, her face red and angry.
"Fine! I'm not okay. Alright? I'm not! I got lured into the woods by a demonic creature, got Doug impaled, and almost got everyone I care about killed! And now you are here and that makes it ten times worse for me to be here! Does that sound like okay to you!" she shouted at her friend.
Aasir looked like a deer in headlights at Que's outburst. Que, embarrassed, quickly turned away, pulling her knees to her chest. "I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't…," she said quietly.
Aasir got up from his chair and slid onto the couch next to Que. He didn't say anything. He hesitated, but slowly he wrapped her in his arms. Que didn't know what to do. Her long ingrained instincts told her to run, but something else deep inside held her content in place.
"He was so dark and cold. The darkness was so intense. I thought...it was terrifying, and I am scared," she confessed. She couldn't stop herself.
Aasir felt her body shiver in his arms as she spoke. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I am so sorry this has happened to you. We'll figure this out though. Together."
They sat that way for what seemed like hours. Que realized then she didn't have a choice anymore. No matter how much she wanted to stay, she had to protect him as well as the others at the mansion. They couldn't do this together. He could get hurt or worse killed. She'd have to leave, and she'd have to leave tonight.