Recrudescence- Chapter 1: Skipping
With the summer drawing closer upon them, the students at the Xavier Institute were busy with studying for final exams and Spring events. The Professor had finished up his last class for the day and was heading towards his study. Raven, who was in her natural blue form and in workout slacks, was just coming off the mansion elevator as Charles rolled near.
"Ah Raven, have a nice training session?" he asked lightly.
"It went fairly well, even though we were short a few more experienced teammates. The newbies, ran well with what they had. They accepted the challenge well," she responded, pride sliding into her voice.
Charles' brow furrowed as he grimaced. "I'm assuming you haven't seen Que or Aasir this afternoon. They were out from my class today."
"I wish I could say I had. They were not in my class either this afternoon. Last time I saw them was at lunch," she replied coming into stride next to the Professor.
"I will do a quick scan for them. They usually don't go far, but this is becoming a seriously bad habit. This is the third time this month they've missed class," he replied.
"Only third? I think they've missed training twice already this week," Raven replied exasperated.
They headed toward Charles' study on the floor. Once in Charles settle in by his desk, and Raven took a seat on a small sofa nearby, he closed his eyes in concentration. The Professor sighed. "They are fine. Que may be difficult to mentally track, but Aasir is definitely not. Just playing hooky again out in the forest, just beyond the lake. I need to have a chat with the pair of them, again, and not just about their lack of enthusiasm for their classes. I know they are on the grounds, but it still worries me them being so far with all of the events this past Christmas," the Professor rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.
"I know Charles. I will go reign them, but they are kids, so don't be too hard on them." she replied with a half smile.
"It's gotten really out of hand since Christmas. I thought Doug and Roberto were bad, but these two are going to be the death of me, I swear. Skipping, always running off, as well as some general lack of respect for fellow classmates and teachers, at least on Que's part anyway… I will do my best. Just send them here. I have a feeling I'll be here for a while grading anyway." he replied as she exited.
Off across the estate, past the edges of Breakstone lake, and into the trees a low rumble could be heard. The trees started to shake as the rumble grew louder and a strong breeze filled the air. Suddenly, through the thicket burst a streak of light weaving intricately through the maze and closely behind a black blur followed.
"Ha! You're going to have to be faster than that Aasir!" Que yelled. She was zoomed forward on what looked to be something straight out of Back to the Future. It was Que's take on a levitating skateboard, an invention of hers that ran off her own energy. Aasir, in panther form, let out a loud growl, as he pursued her closely, and picked up speed. The two sped through the forest, nearing the the edge by the lake.
"Last one there has to take a cold swim!" Que taunted, still leading by several yards. Aasir took a bounding leap, catapulting himself into the air, and changing mid flight into a red tailed falcon. He let out a jeering screech as he fell into pace with Que, sweeping in her breeze.
"Awe, no fair! I thought we said no birds this time," she called as he squaked again taking the lead. Que attempted to catch him, and willed her board even faster, putting forth as much juice as she could muster. Her board took on a whole new speed. She'd never pushed it this hard before, and it took her breath away in surprise. She zoomed past Aasir again and glanced back at him for a brief instant "You'll never catch me now!" she called.
She regretted this decision instantly, turning back around to see she was hurtling toward a large elm at the edge of a lake. She cut her power the best she could, but it was too late. She decided she'd have to slide it to a stop. Que tipped the board off balance, like she'd done so many times in the test runs, just not at this speed nor on purpose. The board tipped, spun out of control and sent both it and its rider tumbling to the ground, rolling to a dizzying stop at the edge of the lake, missing the tree by few meer feet.
Aasir flew up to the grass and dirt cover Que still lying on the ground.
"Que! Are you okay?" he said out of breath. The girl sat up clutching her head and looking a little worse for wear.
" Everything hurts… but that was AWESOME!" she yelled, but immediately her face took on a new shade of green. "Oh I think I'm going to be sick," she said moving hands down to her stomach and losing her previous adrenaline and bravado.
Aasir smirked and knelt down to Que, trying to help her brush off some dirt and see if she was really okay.
"Don't puke on me okay? Can you stand?"
"Ugh. Don't touch me. There is a good chance I will vomit on you," she groaned. Que had a lot of scrapes and bruises, and would definitely be sore for the next few days, but otherwise Aasir noted she seemed only a little worse for wear thus far.
After Que dry heaved some into the grass, Aasir helped her to her feet. Before she could get fully up, she stumbled sideways into her companion wincing in pain.
"Que, whoa. What's wrong?" he asked catching and steading her.
"Crap. I think I may have twisted my ankle. It's fine. I'll just put some ice on it when we get back to the house. Grab my board will you? I'm fine," she said straightening up, but still not putting weight on her ankle.
Aasir grabbed the bits of her board scattered about, and gave Que a condescending look. "I should probably go get someone. You might have broken something, and or possibly have a concussion. That was a pretty rough…"
"I'm fine! Don't you go telling on me Aasir! Seriously! Mom will lock me away in the mansion forever at this rate," she cut him off, exasperated. Mom was what they tended to refer to the Professor as of late when they knew trouble was headed their way. Que knew the Professor cared a lot about his students. They were his family, but sometimes he could be completely overbearing, irrational, and down right naggy. She looked up to the Prof in a paternal sort of way, like she never had anyone else, but at the same time Que would be 15 in a few months. Hormones had taken over, reconing her brain, and she was in full blown rebellious teenager mode. She was aware of all this, yet she didn't care a whole lot at the present moment.
"Aasir. I'm fine!" she repeated.
He rolled his eyes and adjusted himself to help her hobble to the mansion.
On their way there, Raven spotted them and ran in their direction when she saw the state of Que. Que quickly pushed Aasir away before she could close in on them and see her limping along.
"Que! Are you alright? What happened?" Raven asked, appraising Que's small muddy stature incredulously.
"Oh yeah, we're great. Fell in some mud in the woods. How about yourself?" Que asked casually.
"Que, you guys realize this is a school, right? You can't just skip class whenever you feel like it," Raven chided.
"Hmm, I thought it was a zoo… who knew," Que replied sarcastically.
Raven narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. She knew Charles hadn't been kidding about Que's attitude lately, but it was starting to get old.
"Sure Que. You can take it up with Charles. Yes, he wants to speak with you both."
"Sure, we'll be in once we change," Aasir replied, feeling the slight tension, and flashing his prize winning smile. Que took notice immediately and Raven rolled her eyes.
"Alright you two. Get going," she said as she walked off.
Once she was a good distance ahead the pair started off again, and about half way home Aasir shifted form and carried Que back to the house and up the trellis that lead straight into Que's room. Aasir, being the gentleman he was, left to change and give his friend some privacy.
As Que struggled to change out of her muddy clothing, she noticed her ankle was quite swollen and hurt. A lot. It would be difficult to conceal. She also found several bruises on her midsection which possibly meant bruised ribs, and some angry looking scrapes on her forearms and shins.
Thus, she gingerly made her way to her shared bathroom to wash off and hope for the best.
Her ankle was killing her, and she could hardly put any weight on it. How was she supposed to be subtle if she couldn't even hobble to her bedroom door? She eyed different parts of her room, searching for an idea, then she saw it. Herr snow boots sticking out from the edge of her closet doorway would be her key to subtly. They had lots of ankle support if she padded and laced them right.
She hopped to her closet and tested her theory. Shoving her oversized ankle into the thick material and lacing it up was not easily done and definitely not without some tears. Once finished, her ankle still hurt like no tomorrow, but she could walk. Well, sort of any way.
Once she'd cleaned up in the bathroom and changed clothes, making sure to wear long jeans that covered her off seasonal footwear, she flopped back on her bed, exhausted. Going downstairs to get a lecture by the Prof was not the way she had planned her afternoon, so she sat on her bed for a long time and contemplated going down instead. She was anxious about it all and sent papers floating through the air on her breeze.
The last time she and Aasir had been in his office for anything serious was after she'd ran off at Christmas in the middle of the night. Aasir had thankfully calmed her down, made her see reason and return. The memory like many she had was as sharp and clear as day...
Aasir and Que had walked into the Professor's office together, and Charles notice Aasir was holding Que's hand.
"Good morning you two. I am glad you both returned safely, but seeing as it is after three o'clock, I'm afraid our conversation will have to wait until morning. Sleep well and we shall chat then." He had astonished both herself and Aasir, but they did chat the next day. The Professor talked about how they had a plan to keep her safe, and worrying was absolutely okay, but she needed to talk to him if she had any issues, and that was pretty much it. They didn't get into trouble or anything, but Que didn't think this meeting would have the same outcome.
She had talked to the Professor now and then, but she just didn't feel ready to really talk about anything anymore. Unaware to everyone else, even Aasir, Que frequently had nightmares about the dark entity in its enormous wolfish form lunging toward her with its glistening black teeth, and Doug getting impaled by one of the monster's spikes. The worse dreams though, were where her imagination took things to a whole other level. They ended with the bodies of all her friends all around, either impaled with spikes or with them being slowly devoured by the darkness that permeated the atmosphere around the creature while she watched in helpless terror.
She shivered at the thought, then closed her eyes and went back to trying to distract herself with other matters. The school dance was coming up as well as the Spring carnival in town. Those would be fun things, or at least good distractions.