Author's Note: Whoot! Chapter finally up! Yays! Sorry for the wait. I got a job, though, so the next wait might be longer. Sorrrry! I love you guys!
Chapter Seventeen
The floor was too damn hard. It did not make for a very good resting place. That was the first thing that occurred to Cassandra as her mind slowly pulled itself into the land of waking. She had probably passed out again. It happened, every once in awhile, when her mind finally refused to stay awake any longer despite her body's insistence that it wasn't tired. It must have happened on the way back from the bathroom.
And then everything came rushing back to her and she winced. There had been another attack on the mansion. And the fact that she was currently unconscious on the ground instead of in the medical facility didn't exactly bode well. Cassandra shifted her weight and pushed herself off of the ground, blinking rapidly to clear her blurry vision. She tossed her gaze around and realized she was in a cage. Alone.
"Cass?" Samantha asked, causing Cassandra to turn around. "You okay?"
"Fine. For, you know, apparently being kidnapped or whatever." Cassandra commented, giving another look around to see who was there. Samantha and Kurt were in a cage together, as were Bobby and Gambit. Cassandra could see Anorra and Rachel as well, but both of them were still unconscious. Cassandra moved towards the wall she shared with Samantha, asking, "How long have I been out?"
"I dunno." Samantha replied. "I've got no sense of time in here."
"And, unfortunately, no one has a working watch." Bobby said.
Cassandra glanced down at her own wrist, then sighed. "Took mine off to sleep. So what's the situation? Can we get out?"
"Doesn't seem likely, not on our own." Kurt said. "The cages block our powers. I cannot teleport, and Samantha can't contact any animals to get help."
"And there's some kind of energy around the bars." Bobby said. "You try to hit one and it just pushes you back."
"Makes it so you can stick a hand through the bars, either." Gambit told her. "Otherwise Gambit would have picked the locks and we'd be long gone."
"So, basically, we're screwed." Cassandra summed up. "Great. Fun."
"Not screwed." Samantha protested. "We do have other teammates looking for us, remember?"
"Right." Cassandra said. "Kay." Then she realized Logan was still out there and relaxed a bit. If anyone could get them out of here, it was him. "So what do we do, just wait?"
"Unless you've got a better idea on how to pass the time, petite?" Gambit asked.
Cassandra considered, then frowned at Samantha. "Why are you wearing Kurt's coat?"
"Because it's cold." Samantha replied. "And I'm wearing boxers and a tanktop under here, so shut up."
Kurt blinked slightly. "I didn't see anything wrong with lending it to her."
"Oh, no. Fuel her obsession." Cassandra muttered.
"Hey! I do not have an obsession." Samantha protested.
Kurt blinked again, then gave a slightly amused smile. "You have an obsession with coats?"
"Only yours, I'm thinking, mon ami." Gambit commented.
Cassandra just beamed at Samantha. She could have made a bigger deal about the fact that Samantha was currently leaning against Kurt, and Kurt's tail was wrapped around her waist, but Cassandra decided not to. Because, honestly, she was a bit jealous. Waking up stuck in a cage was not the most fun thing ever, and it really made her want snuggles. Especially Logan snuggles.
"You know, you two are lucky I love you." Samantha grumbled.
"And that we're in separate cages, so you can't get to us?" Cassandra teased.
Samantha stuck her tongue out at her.
The room fell silent, then. Occasionally, people made comments or tried to keep up a light-hearted conversation, but it always died eventually, returning the room to silence. Finally, Anorra began to stir.
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There had been a fight. Someone, something had attacked them. No amount of drugs in Anorra's system could make her forget that. So when she woke, she woke ready. Ready to fight, to drive away the person who dared try to take her on. There was hard stone beneath her, but she didn't feel it. She pushed herself up and off of the ground, instantly crouching into a defensive position. Her hands came up in front of her as she willed them into talons, shifting her body into its half-dragon form. Anorra didn't notice that nothing happened.
Her eyes swept out in front of her. Whatever had knocked her out was still in her system, blurring her vision slightly. But she could see enough, she could see what was in front of her. No one. There was no one there. They had to be hiding. She turned slowly, her eyes scanning and her ears listening and….no one. There, soft breathing. Voices, dim, but there. She whirled again, turning to face the voices, but instead she saw a wall of iron bars.
A cage. Anorra snarled, then paused. Her voice sounded different. More human than it should. Didn't matter. Nothing mattered, nothing except getting out of there. Getting out of the cage. There, the door. It was only iron. She could break it. Anorra concentrated again, willing her form to melt into her larger, safer dragon form. Once again, she didn't realize she hadn't changed. She lunged.
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"Anorra!" Cassandra shouted, trying to snap some sense into the girl.
"This ain't gonna be pretty." Gambit muttered as Anorra lunged for the door.
The scaled mutant hit the door with hands-outstretched, obviously trying to break it down. Unfortunately, the energy field on the bars snapped into action. Anorra smacked into the invisible wall and was tossed a few feet backward. The place she had hit shimmered pink and green for a moment, then faded into invisibility once more. Anorra stood up, shook her head, then lunged again with the same results.
"Yay for instincts." Samantha muttered, sending a brief glance at Kurt. "Have I thanked you enough for grabbing me so I couldn't do that?"
Kurt gave her a small smile. Cassandra yelled Anorra's name after the second lunge, and this time it seemed to register.
"Cass?" Anorra asked, shaking her head again. "Ow. Serious ringing in my ears."
"Yeah, that's what happens when you attack invisible barriers." Bobby commented.
Anorra snarled at him and he blinked.
"Thinking Anorra's not in the mood to be teased, mon ami." Gambit told Bobby.
Anorra shifted her weight, rolling her shoulders experimentally. Then, she frowned. "Why am I still human?"
"Power blockers." Kurt replied. "None of us can use our powers."
Anorra growled and paced the cage for a moment. Then she stopped and asked, "What's the plan?"
"Plan?" Cassandra repeated.
"For getting out of here." Anorra said.
"Um. Wait to get rescued?" Cassandra offered.
"You know, when you say it like that, we have a really crappy plan." Samantha commented.
"You think?" Anorra asked. "You five have been awake for how long and you've still got nothing?"
"If you have any ideas, petite, we'd love to hear them." Gambit said. "We can't use our powers, we can't pick the locks, we can't dig through solid ground, we don't have phones or telepathy to call for help, and there's no guards to sweet talk into releasing us."
"Wow." Bobby said. "We really are screwed."
"Nu-uh." Cassandra countered. "Logan's looking for us."
Kurt nodded. "Logan and the other X-men won't give up. We'll just have to be on guard for an opportunity to escape."
Anorra opened her mouth, then closed it. Unfortunately, she didn't have any ideas on how to get out, either. What she needed was a person with a good head on their shoulders, who she could bounce ideas off of. Who wouldn't instantly resort to 'wait to be rescued' as a plan. She gave a frustrated sigh and started pacing again. The others were talking still, but they weren't saying anything important so she didn't pay attention. She had to figure a way out of here.
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Toad wasn't entirely sure why he kept at this. He knew her type, he did. The serious ones, never allowing anything to distract her from her business. So focused on working, training, controlling her powers that she never realized there was more to life than being the perfect warrior. Perfect businessman. Or woman, in this case. If the time ever came that the Brotherhood had to shape up and get real jobs, Toad had little doubt that Backlash would be just as successful there. She wasn't like Aphedria, didn't kill out of hatred. Backlash killed because it needed to be done.
And there was little difference in killing someone in the literal sense and killing them in a business merger or in some courtroom where a man's life depended on how far his lawyer was willing to go. Backlash could wipe the floor with them, she could. Toad couldn't help but admire her. She was strong, she was beautiful, and she was sure as hell deadly.
But Goddamn did her hate her type. He hated everything about it. Charm was more his type. That girl knew how to have a good time. Sure as hell knew how to give a good time, too, judging by the sounds that came from the fire boy's room most nights. Toad was pretty damn sure that, if he expressed an interested, he could have her for at least a night or two. Even if she did seem to be pretty wrapped up in the boy.
But Toad knew Charm's type, too. The wild girls, the ones that flirted, toyed, and sexed up men until they were too blind by their dicks to realize that she was deadly, too. Toad sometimes wondered if the boy knew that. He also wondered if the girl knew what Pyro was capable of. Despite his comments, Toad knew that boy was something else. Pyro wasn't one of Magneto's most trusted lieutenants for nothing. The only other ones with that honor were Mystique, Sabertooth, and Toad himself. Although Backlash was pretty damn close to becoming one of them.
There went Toad's train of thought again. It did that, even though he never really wanted it to. Somehow it always seemed to wind its back to Backlash. He wasn't even sure how it got there sometimes. It was almost like he had a separate train of thought just for Backlash, and every few minutes it rolled on by, forcing him to get off his current train and board that one.
She was even making him come up with stupid metaphors about trains. Damn he needed to get her out of there. Pyro had told him that he should have sex with her and get it over with. Yeah, sure, that was easy for the boy to say. He had a hot little girl that was bugging him to have sex. With Toad, well, the situations were reversed. Although, quite obviously, Pyro hadn't put up near as much of a struggle as Backlash was.
It was damn near just as obvious that Backlash didn't fancy Toad hanging around her. Didn't want anything to do with him, she didn't. He was pretty sure that that was one of the main reasons he was still bugging her. Nothing more desirable than something one couldn't have. That, and damn. There was just something about her. Hell if Toad knew what it was, but it was something.
She was relenting, too. Three times this week she had sought him out. Twice it had been for training, sure, but that other time she had just found him in the kitchen. Sat down at the table nice as you please and ate a sandwich. They didn't say anything, no, but she was there. And then as she was leaving Toad had hit on her and she had lashed her whip at him. He had gotten damn good at dodging that thing. They were training together, now. Always fighting against each other, but Magneto was coming back today. Erik would back him up on the teamwork advantage.
It's what the X-men had. They worked together like nothing else. Erik – Magneto had said that was why they lost last time. And the time before that. Magneto was right. Toad knew full well the advantages that came from working with other people. Couldn't pull off a big heist all by yourself, after all. Just had to choose your teammates carefully. Never knew who was okay and who was out to stab you in the back.
Toad had had a lot of those in his life. He didn't need any more people looking down on him, treating him like nothing. And he didn't get that any more. Not since Erik. Magneto was good people. He fought for something real, something that Toad didn't even really believe in until he signed up here. But fighting for mutants, for all of the freaks like Toad who had nothing else, yeah, that was good work. And if Toad got to steal some crap and beat up on the X-geeks, the goody-goodies who were too afraid to get their hands a little dirty in the name of mutantkind, well, more the better.
And he wasn't the only one that felt that way. He and Charm had gone out on a trip the other day. Stole a car, little joyride, fun as hell. She was of the same mind that he was. She was good company, the girl, had a little sister quality that he knew he must be going crazy to see. Cause damn was that girl hot. She showed it, too, with those little outfits she wore. Maybe she could talk Backlash into wearing one.
And, hell, there she was again. Toad needed a drink. But Magneto was coming back today, so no drinks for him. By choice, it was, if Magneto had told him not to drink for their meetings Toad've done it just to spite him. But he didn't, so Toad didn't drink. Mind sharper that way.
Well, with no drinking, there was always training. Solitary, the peaceful atmosphere of letting his mind focus only on the movement of his body. Yeah, that was the way to go.
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Tuesday morning, when Pyro woke up, Charm was still asleep. This was the second night that both of them had slept in the same bed. After clubbing Sunday night, they had passed out in his bed. Charm had been gone Monday morning when he woke up, but he knew she had slept there. He remembered the feel of her cool skin against his as they slept. And when he had sat up, wincing at the hangover-induced headache he had, he had noticed a glass of ice water on his nightstand. Two aspirin rested on top of a napkin beside it, and when he picked them up he had noticed 'Thought you could use these' scribbled on the napkin. Under that was a C overlapping a heart.
Neither of them had talked about it yesterday. They had both been busy; Charm off doing whatever it was she did, and Pyro getting ready for Magneto's return. Last night, though, they had ended up in Charm's room doing what they did almost every night. Now, Pyro was glad he was the first one awake this time. It was Charm's room, so really, it was his responsibility to leave.
He slid quietly out of bed, being careful not to disturb her. He found his pants by her desk and pulled them on, then spotted a small notepad. After a moment's consideration, he grabbed a pen and scrolled 'Thanks for the aspirin' on one of the pages. Ripping it out, he placed it on her nightstand, then padded out of the room.
Magneto would be here today. Despite working with the man for over a year now, Pyro couldn't help but feel a small rush at the fact that he would be back. Magneto, he was someone Pyro could respect. Magneto knew what had to be done, and he wasn't afraid to do it. He was the first one to treat Pyro with any sort of respect. Except for maybe the Icebox. But the respect of a friend was nothing compared to the respect of a man as great as Magneto. Here, Pyro was doing things that would actually make a difference, instead of just wasting his time in a school that didn't teach him anything.
Pyro didn't know what time Magneto would be coming back, though, so it meant he had an indeterminate time to do absolutely nothing. He went to eat some breakfast, but Aphedria was in the kitchen so he just grabbed an apple and left quickly. It wasn't like he really thought she would hurt him or anything, but just being in the room with her was kind of creepy. He wasn't sure how Charm had managed to travel with her for so long without getting killed.
His plans for eating ruined, Pyro munched on the apple as he considered other options to occupy his time. Finally, he settled for heading to the training room to get in an hour or so of burning crap. That always put him in a good mood. On his way there, he ran into Toad, who was apparently just finishing his own workout.
"Morning Pyro." Toad greeted. "I had a peaceful, quite night. I'm guessing you ended up in the little girl's room, then?"
Pyro rolled his eyes and pushed past him. "That's none of your business."
"Everything's my business." Toad called after him cheerfully, then continued on his way back to his room.
He was almost there when he heard someone calling his name, and turned to face Charm with a grin. "Looking for your boy toy, pet? He's off in the training room."
"Actually, sugar, I was looking for you." Charm replied. "You remember that little car we found the other day?"
Toad's grinned widened. "You bet I do. What about it?"
"We've got an idea for what to do with it. You wanna come along?" She asked.
His day was getting better and better. "You have to ask? Lead the way."
She grinned at him and he followed her down to the garage, where Backlash and Aphedria were waiting by their new lovely little Porsche.
Backlash scowled. "What's that doing here?"
"He did help me get it, hon." Charm told her. "Figured he should be along when we gave it back."
"I'd be insulted if I wasn't." Toad said. "And hopefully you don't mean give it back in the literal sense."
"Of course not. That would be idiotic." Backlash muttered.
"We're gonna crash it into that new store they opened up on Drayton street." Charm said. "It's a Wal Mart. With a casino."
"Wal Marts have casinos now?" Toad asked. "Wasn't McDonalds, jewelry stores, hair salons, and banking enough?"
Backlash rolled her eyes. "You're wasting time explaining the plan to him, Charm."
"I'm never a waste of time, luv." Toad said.
"You're a waste of everything, frog." Backlash replied, sliding into the driver's seat of the car.
"Good job, Charm." Ahpedria commented as she got into the passenger seat. "Now they're going to be bickering the whole time."
"I know." Charm said with a grin. "Isn't it cute? They're like an old married couple."
Toad grinned widely and Backlash made a strangled sound in the back of her throat, then turned to glare at Charm.
"You must feel especially suicidal today, Charm." Backlash said in a voice completely devoid of emotion.
"I'm shutting up." Charm replied, jumping into the backseat.
Toad hopped in next to her and Backlash drove off.
"So, anyway, we crash the car into the store." Charm said. "And while everyone's panicking, we're stealing crap. And then we make our way to my car, waiting outside, and we're all set."
"And we survive the car crash without any injuries how?" Toad asked.
"Oh, we won't be in the car when it crashes. You'll get out, go inside, then I'll bet the car it can't get inside the store and follow you. It's really competitive." Charm said.
"Yes, thank you for explaining my plan to the simpleton." Backlash muttered. "I don't have the patience for it."
"Shut up, we're here." Aphedria muttered. "And there better be someone who stands against us."
"Don't worry, hon, there will be plenty of humans for you to kill." Charm said. "I'll meet you all inside."
The plan worked perfectly. People were so distracted by the fact that a Porsche had just crashed into the store that few bothered to notice when they started stealing. In fact, some other people even started doing it themselves. And, of course, there were enough people that got in their way to make Aphedria happy. When the cops finally arrived, Aphedria killed one or two of those as well as they were driving off. Just for good measure.
Charm was in the driver's seat now, since it was her car, and Aphedria was sitting next to her. Backlash and Toad were in the back, a pile of stolen stuff between them and on the floor. The two were sorting through it, looking to see what everyone had gotten.
"Okay, who stole a gallon of milk?" Backlash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That was me. There should be a couple more in there, too." Charm said. Then, when everyone just stared at her, she added, "What? We're almost out."
Backlash shook her head and returned to looking. A few moments later, Toad commented, "Charm? Did you steal a cake, too?"
"Yes." Charm muttered defensively. "It was big. And it looked good. And it had 'Welcome Back' on it with little red balloons. And I like cake!"
There was a long pause. Then, Backlash turned to Toad and said, "She doesn't get to steal crap anymore."
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Pyro had headed straight to his room after his training session was finished. It had gone pretty well, he thought, since he had been able to control his fire almost perfectly. It was still difficult for him sometimes, although the hardest part was putting it out. Especially because he really, really didn't want to. But he agreed with Magneto that it was an important skill to learn, so he was doing it.
He had been in his room for over an hour and hadn't heard from Charm, which meant she was most likely off on one of her little trips. One of these days he would have to go along, to see her in action. He figured she was good, judging by the cash he still had under his mattress, but it'd probably be fun to watch.
His door swung open, then, and Pyro grinned as Charm strolled through it.
"Have fun?" He asked.
"You bet, hon. Here." She told him, handing him a CD before plopping down on his bed. "Got that for you."
Pyro turned the CD over in his hands, looking at it. "You got me a CD."
"Yup." She said. "It's Smile Empty Soul. They're great, you'll love them."
He didn't seem to hear her. "Why?"
"Because I felt like it?" Charm said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Geez, hon, are you like this every time someone gets you something?"
"People don't buy me things." Pyro said absently. Except for Bobby, and Rogue, once, when Christmas came while they were both there.
"Well, sweetie, I didn't buy it. I stole it. That make you feel better?" Charm asked. When he didn't answer, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. I've given you lots of cash before. Why are you making such a big deal of this?"
"This isn't cash. It's a CD. It's personal." Pyro accused.
"No, it's not." Charm said, a bit freaked out now. Stupid Pyro, making a big deal out of nothing. "I saw it, remembered there were some songs that you might like, and took it. Took about two seconds."
"Yeah. Okay, you're right." Pyro said, shrugging. "No big deal. Hey, thanks."
"You're welcome. And you're sharing it, you know, 'cause I love them." Charm told him. Good. All better now.
A knock came at Pyro's door, then, and before either of them could answer it opened and Toad stuck his head in. "Put your pants on, kiddies, Daddy's coming home."
Pyro grinned widely and took off, leaving Charm and Toad to follow him to Magneto's office. On the way, Charm grabbed her cake, which she put on an extra desk. Backlash and Aphedria, who were already there, rolled their eyes at her, but Charm didn't particularly care. Before long, Magneto entered the room, accompanied by six new mutants: three men, two women, and a weird creature that looked like a cross between a man and an alligator. They were introduced as Quicksilver, a young man with white hair and blue eyes; Madrox, a handsome man with brown hair and eyes; Psych, a man with blonde hair and brown eyes; Tenebra, a pitch-black-skinned woman with white hair and eyes; Mouse, a girl who looked to be in her teens with brown hair and eyes; and Monster, who was, appropriately, the alligator creature.
After the introductions, Magneto disappeared into the back room with Toad and Pyro. Backlash followed them, and must have been allowed to stay because she didn't come back out. Aphedria took a long look at the six new mutants, then walked out.
Charm grinned. "Don't mind her. Phedria's always like that. I'm Charm, and welcome to the Brotherhood."
Madrox winked at her. "If I had known we were going to get a welcome like this, I'd have tried to get here sooner."
Charm laughed. "Oh, good, someone with a sense of humor. It's hard to find that around here."
"Is the cake for us?" Mouse asked, glancing over at it.
"You bet it is, hon." Charm said. "Stole it myself."
"Great." Quicksilver commented, darting over to grab himself a piece and returning before anyone noticed he was gone. "I'm starving."
Tenebra gave them all a nod and left, followed closely by Monster. The other boys, though, gathered around the cake.
Mouse sidled up next to Charm. "So, Charm, what's up with the cutie in the backroom?"
"Pyro?" Charm replied, then grinned. "He's as hot as his name implies. You should take him for a spin."
"Ooo. Just might." Mouse commented.
"Although apparently you've been traveling with three hotties." Charm said. "Gotta say I'm jealous."
"Actually, I've been traveling with as many hotties as I want." Mouse replied. "Madrox over there can multiply himself."
"Really." Charm said. "How many copies can he make?"
"I don't know. We haven't found a limit yet." Mouse said with a wink.
"We should probably test this some time." Charm said thoughtfully.
Mouse grinned. "That's a great idea. I'm sure between the two of us we can figure it out."
Charm draped her arm over Mouse's shoulder. "Honey, between the two of us, we'd probably kill the poor boy. Come on, I'll show you where you're staying."
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Classes were cancelled that day. They had been cancelled yesterday, too, so Ali had spent all of Monday sleeping. Well, not all of it. She had woken up in time for dinner. Tuesday, though, Ali was awake and full of energy. Because someone had to tell the students what had happened on Sunday night. The teachers weren't saying. They just said that there had been an attack on the mansion, and that the X-men would be spending their time making the mansion as safe as possible. Or something like that. Ali couldn't remember it exactly, she had been half asleep when Professor Xavier had made the announcement Monday morning.
But now? She was totally wide awake. And it was a good thing, too, because Ali was currently outside in the courtyard with all of her friends. There were a dozen of them, including Ali herself, so meeting outside was the best place that both had enough room and was private. Her friends had heard she had gotten attacked by one of the things. So Ali was going to enlighten them on just what had happened.
"So, like, I was just on my way to my room when I run into Rogue in the hall. And she was all freaked out about something, then I realized the shadows were moving." Ali told them.
"By themselves." Kitty added. Kitty was one of Ali's roommates, so the fifteen-year-old girl had already heard the story. "Like, totally creepy."
"Come on, Kitkat, let her finish." Jubilee said, nudging the younger girl. Jubilee was sixteen, one of the oldest students in their group. Only Mark and Samuel were sixteen, too, so really Jubilee was the oldest girl. But Jubilee was Ali's other roommate, so she was cool enough. If a little whiny at times.
Oh, wait. Ali let herself get distracted. "Yeah, moving shadows. And it was really creepy. And then the shadows turned into shadow people, like, actually moving about and grabbing us."
"Did you get hurt?" Josh asked.
"No, I'm okay. They didn't get me." Ali told him, secretly pleased he had asked. Josh was cute, with pretty gold skin, and he could heal people and he was fifteen, which was almost as old as sixteen. Oh. Ooops. Distracted again. "They wanted Rogue. I tried to distract them, but they went right for her. There must have been, like, seven hundred of them. And then, all of a sudden, more show up. Then five of them smoosh together, like this…." Here Ali brought her hands together in a clapping gesture. "And turned into one. Then it told the others that it was time to go, and they all left."
"Just like that?" Roberto asked, one eyebrow raised. "I find that hard to believe."
"Lay off, dude." Ray said. "They probably had some master plan and had already finished it."
Ray and Roberto didn't get along very well. They were both fourteen, the youngest boys in their group, which might have been why. Or not. Ali didn't really know. At least they weren't roommates, though. They'd probably kill each other.
"I don't know." Ali said. "But Professor Xavier did seem to think they wanted something. He made me leave before I could find out what. But if you guys wanna know what I think…" And, well, it didn't really matter if they wanted to know or not. Because Ali was going to tell them anyway.
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They were back at the mansion now. Apparently Logan had realized that not sleeping for two day's straight wasn't the best way to keep everyone alert. Zephyr figured it was also because they had drove around the city all of Monday, Tuesday night, and then Tuesday without any trace of their missing teammates. They had covered all of Salem Center and had branched out a bit into the rest of Westchester County. They hadn't made it to New York City, but Zephyr seriously doubted they'd find anything there. If Logan couldn't pick up the trail in the area surrounding the mansion, then it was likely the attackers had teleported them straight to wherever they were being held. Zephyr didn't think that was New York City.
Now, Zephyr was exhausted. Rogue and Piotr had headed off to their rooms to grab a couple of hours of sleep, and Logan had joined Storm in a Danger Room session. Zephyr had followed him there, but only to find Warren. She wanted to see him before she went to bed. It was silly, she knew, but she just had to make sure he was okay. She took comfort in the fact that he was relieved to see her, too. Warren had decided to catch some sleep, too, and they were heading up to their rooms now.
Warren had grabbed her hand almost as soon as they had started walking, and Zephyr had laced her fingers through his. There was something reassuring about the feel of his hand in hers. She walked him to his room, then hesitated. Despite how tired she was, she really didn't want to leave him. He reached up with his free hand to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, then rested his forehead against hers. For a long while, the two of them just stood there. Neither of them said anything, just taking comfort in each other's presence, trying to forget about what was going on, even if it was only for a brief moment.
Finally, Warren pulled his head up and requested softly, "Stay with me." When she just looked at him, he continued, "I'm not asking for anything more. I just….don't want to miss you tonight."
"Okay." Zephyr replied quietly, tilting her head upwards to place her lips against his in a brief, feathery-soft kiss.
Warren smiled at her, a bit of relief showing in his eyes. Then he opened the door and she followed him in, closing it behind them.