Chapter 8: Bitter Denial 2

By: Galadeidre

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Hope you guys like it!

Maid of the Mer: You're right. I'd choose chocolate any day.

EverAfter-01: About the Jean and Len similarities…well…I did actually do that on purpose. I'm glad you noticed. Oh, and I'd be happy to use your Chara. Is she in one of your fanfic stories? I can't find her. I'd like to read a little bit about her, if you don't mind. Thanks for the offer!

"Sharp Eyes, do you see her?" Sprint whispered. The moon was full and shone clearly even through the thick forest growth. The night air was completely silent, save for the crickets chirping. Alarm came up last out from the stairway that led to the Shelter, closing the trapdoor silently and covering it with dry leaves and twigs.

Sharp Eyes took a look around, his albino skin bright in the moonlight.

"Yes. She's still running. She's at the end of the block."

"Let's go then." Sprint took hold of Alarm and Sharp Eyes and ran nearer to Len, making sure that they kept in the shadows.

Len finally stopped running as she turned the corner. She didn't dare look back, and briskly kept a fast pace. Finally, she collapsed beside a tree, on the side that wasn't overlooking the streets or sidewalks. She was out of breath, and a thousand thoughts ran through her mind. Tears streamed down her face as she began to realize that she may never be able to go home. She still didn't want to believe, but she knew it had to be true. Why would they have brought her to the Shelter in the first place? They didn't have anything to hold against her. She had always been nice to them.

Now, that she was one of them, all she felt was hatred and self-loathing.

And she needed to talk to Conner.

No…

She wanted to kill him.

She continued to blame him for everything that had happened. It was his fault. Did he not just heal her from her nightmares just that morning? He had somehow changed her…had made her turn mutant. Thanks to him, she would never see her folks or her baby brother San…

She was going to kill him for that.

Len closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Calm down, Len. Calm down. She stayed silent like this for quite some time. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked around.

Only the street lamps were on. All was silent. Most of the houses were dark, and not a soul was in sight. She glanced up towards the clock tower that could be seen from almost anywhere in the city, it was so tall.

11:05

By now, Conner would be done with the performance. She stood up and glanced through the trees towards the high school. There were a few cars still parked in the parking lot near the performing arts center, and she immediately recognized Conner's silver Ford Taurus. No one was coming out of the parking lot, meaning that they were still cleaning up the stage.

Len's eyes narrowed and she walked a few more blocks away from the high school until she couldn't see the building anymore. She found a payphone and dug in her pocket for some change. Without a word, she picked up the receiver and entered some coins in the coin slot. She dialed Conner's cell phone number.

Conner answered after the second ring.

"Hello, Conner O'Brien speaking."

"I'm on the corner of Ricotta and Main. Pick me up," Len immediately spoke, her voice cold and unfeeling.

There was a slight pause before Conner spoke again. His voice was hesitant. "Len? Is that you, love?"

"Don't call me that!" she hissed. "Pick me up now."

"But…"

Len hung up on him and sat on one of the wooden benches, as still and silent as the grave.

Conner was good at following orders – or it may have been because of the coldness in Len's voice. Either way, he was at the corner of the two streets within five minutes.

Len opened the door to the passenger seat and went in. "Drive."

"To where?"

"I don't care! Just anywhere out of the city." She didn't even glance at Conner as she said this, and she could feel his confusion and hesitancy.

Conner didn't ask any more questions for a while. He turned the corner and headed for a rural highway out of the city.

"Look. It's Conner." Sharp Eyes whispered through the bushes. Sprint and Alarm looked to where Sharp Eyes was pointing.

"Sprint, you should continue following them for a while. No telling what Len'll do. No doubt she's still mad at him." Alarm remarked.

Sharp Eyes nodded in agreement. "We'll head back to the Shelter and inform Von of the situation."

"Ok. Later, then." With that said, Sprint zoomed off towards Conner's car.

The cold silence was driving Conner insane. He fidgeted in his seat as he neared the edge of the city. Len still had not spoken.

Finally, Conner couldn't bear it any longer. "Len, what's wrong? And where have you been? Your folks called me several hours ago asking if you were with me. You've got them real worried sick about you."

"Just drive."

Conner sighed and started braking for an upcoming stoplight. All around them was just tall, uncut grass. They were practically in the countryside now. This was the last stoplight out of the city. "I can help you, Len. You know that. I just need to know what happened to you."

This was about all that Len could take. The minute Conner braked at the stoplight, she opened the car door and ran out and into the pasture.

"Len! Crud, Len!" He tried to reach for her, but to no avail. Immediately, he turned right on the other road and parked on the side. Not caring that his engine was still running, he got out of the car and ran after Len. In a matter of moments, he had caught up to her and had grabbed her around the sides.

Len was crying again. She tried to break his grip off of her as well as beat him in any way. "Let me go! Get off of me! I said, get away! Get away!"

"Lenette! What the hell are you doing! Lenette!" Conner winced as Len's elbow hit him on the side. With a bit of effort, he turned her around to face him, but kept a firm grip around her. Len continued to beat him with the best of her ability as she continued to scream and cry. Conner tripped, and they toppled onto the ground. Len tried to crawl away, but Conner pounced on her. Len fell on her back and Conner pushed her shoulders down onto the ground to stop her from getting up.

At this point, Len knew it was useless to try to run. Conner was faster and stronger than her. He would always catch her. She stopped flailing and began to sob even harder.

Conner tried to catch his breath as he pulled her to him in a gentle hug. He knew that he had to be careful of what he did. She wasn't ready to be too close to him yet.

Len weakly pounded on his chest as she sobbed onto his shoulder, soaking his shirt. She was muttering as she continued to cry. "It's…your…f…fault…it's…your…"

Conner sighed, but didn't ask what she meant.

"Conner?"

Conner looked up to see Sprint standing in front of him.

"Sprint…"

"Here." Sprint handed Conner his keys. "I turned the car off for you. Didn't want anyone stealing your car. You might need it."

"Why are you here?" Conner asked confused. Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Unless…" He looked down at Len, who was still crying.

Sprint sighed and nodded. "Von told me to watch her for a while, just in case."

"So, she's been at the Shelter this whole time? What happened?"

"She knocked out Z as well as the other telepaths back at the Shelter. Her powers are real strong. She ran out of the Shelter, so we've been keeping an eye on her."

"She knocked out Z?"

Sprint nodded.

Conner sighed and drew Len slightly away from him, so he could look at her in the face. "Why didn't you tell me, Len?"

"She blames you, Conner."

"What?" Conner looked from Sprint back to Len. "Why?"

"She thinks your powers triggered hers."

"But I'm sure my powers don't have side effects…"

"Not to her."

Conner looked back at Len. "Len? Is this true?"

Len didn't speak. She just looked up at him with red, puffy eyes, but Conner could see the bitter contempt within them. Conner sighed once again, his shoulders sagging, and he let go of her shoulders. He stood up, hands in his pockets, and looked up Sprint. "Thanks for watching after her this far. I'll take over from here."

"What are ya gonna do?"

"She can't stay here. I think I know where she can go, though. Marron knows him. Don't worry about it. Give Von my appreciation. I'll call when everything's been settled."

"All right. Later." Sprint turned around, but then turned back. He glanced down at Len who hadn't moved from her spot. "Hey, Len." Len didn't move. "Len, when you come back, you're welcome to make yourself at home at the Shelter. Don't worry about any of the mutants there. They'll all accept you. Most of us already have." He gave a grin and zoomed off.

All was silent once Sprint left.

Conner glanced down at Len with a look of sadness on his face. Len continued to stare at the ground not moving. After what seemed like an eternity, Conner silently turned and walked back to the car.

Len thought he was going to leave her there. Good… she bitterly thought to herself. Shows how heartless he is… but she knew that that wasn't quite true.

And she was shocked when Conner hadn't left.

Instead, Conner just opened one of the back doors and unzipped his backpack. He got out a notebook and a textbook, leaned on the side of his car, and began to read and do his homework. He stayed that way for several minutes, knowing that he was going to have to earn Len's trust back little by little, which meant that he was going to have to be patient. He was good at that.

Finally, Len looked up at him. There was a frown on Conner's face as he reread a question in his textbook. He scribbled something down in his notebook, erased it, and wrote something else. He sighed as he erased that answer as well.

From where Len was sitting, she could just make out the words 'Pre-calculus' on the textbook in the dim street light that hovered several feet away from Conner's car. Slowly, she got up from where she sat and walked over to Conner. She stopped several paces away from him and just stood there watching. Conner frowned as he erased the problem once again. Len knew that pre-calculus was one of Conner's tougher subjects.

Conner wasn't saying anything to Len, but Len knew how much he wanted to say something. Anything. He was a sweet boy; Len knew that. She was lucky to have him. Any other boy would've just told her to get used to the fact that she was a mutant and live with it. Conner knew better. She started feeling guilty for being so cruel to him.

Len gave a sigh as Conner erased the same problem for about the fifth time. "Here. Let me see it."

Conner looked up at her, with a mixture of emotions in his eyes, and gently handed her the book, without saying a word. Len took the book and placed it on the trunk of his car. She took his pencil and notebook and wrote the problem down for him. "You're forgetting to square root here…" She finished the problem for him and placed the pencil down.

Conner gave a small smile. "Thanks." He sighed as he closed the book and notebook and returned the items to his backpack. "I could never get any of that stuff. You were always better at it than me." Len gave a small smile, which immediately disappeared. Now that she had stopped crying and was thinking a bit straighter, she couldn't look at Conner in the eyes. She had blamed him unfairly and had said such cruel things about him. How could he even stand being around her anymore?

"Hey. You okay?" Conner tilted his head to look at her. "Then again, that's a stupid question, considering what's happened to you over the past few hours."

Silence.

Finally, Len began to speak in a soft tone. "You said that you had an idea of where I could go. Where? You said Marron knows him."

Conner nodded and his face became serious again. "He's a professor up at Westchester."

"Westchester, New York? That's over a day's drive from here."

"Yeah." He gave a small grin. "I guess we're gonna be taking a road trip, huh? That is, unless you don't want to go there."

"Might as well try it."

"Okay, then." He opened up the passenger door for Len. "You think you'll be able to stand me for a good day and a half?"

Len gave a smile. "I'll try at least." She went into the car and Conner shut the door behind her. He walked over to his side, started the engine, and turned the car around, traveling north on the rural highway and away from their hometown.

"Hey, Len." Conner said quietly after a while on the highway.

"Yeah?"

"I'm…sorry. Sorry…about everything."

His genuine apology cut through Len's heart. She realized that Conner didn't have to do this, but he was. He didn't care that she blamed him. He just wanted her safe. Why did this have to happen to her? A tear trickled down her cheek as she looked out at the dark landscape.

"Me too…"

A/N: Okay, another note. I've been thinking of how to continue this story, but I've come with a little problem. From the looks of it, I have 2 different ways I can make this story continue. The difference between them is that one way may be a bit more 'rated', meaning I'd have to bring the rating of this story up from K+ to T. The other version would stay at K+. What do you guys prefer? Would any of you mind if it went up to T? Please respond, if possible. Don't worry. There's still a few more chapters left before I'll have to choose if it'll stay at K+ or go up to T, but please review either way if you like it or no. Thanks!

Galadeidre