It Sounded Much Cooler in My Head
Summary Elizabeth Brooks' favorite color is green,he is green,surly they're meant to be.Too bad he's an insecure,unstable madman of a mutant who wants to end humanity and she's a human with an attitude problem.
Warnings: This story is going to contain coarse language, gore, violence, mentions of drug and alcohol abuse, and maybe sexually explicit content some day.
Memo: Well lookie here, at the lack of complaints, and nasty PMs demanding a new chapter, you got a reasonably long update. NOW SING MY PRAISES, MORTALS! Heh, just kidding...Hoorah for Toad-related interaction! I need to make my Mort plushie already.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of X-Men, just my originals and this story.
Exalted Fans: Itsallaboutme11 // animebaby6 // Jinx of the 2nd Law // foxfire22 // Angeldustedthatfreak // Italia12 // Shostakovich // st.elmo-lover
Chapter Five: Inner Workings
She didn't attempt to talk to Toad anymore after that, she wanted him to believe she was sorry, sure, if only for her own selfish reason of wanting to rid herself of the over-hanging guilt. But angering a man who was a proven homicidal maniac and strong enough to punch a clean hole through a stone wall with so little apparent effort was a clearly moronic task.
After a few hours of relative quiet, the solitary sound of Toad's incessant inane angry mutterings lulled her into an uneasy sleep.
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She saw flashes of a place she couldn't recall having ever seen before, though it all seemed distantly familiar. It was like uncovering a memory you'd long forgotten, but different… less familiar.
A dirty damp room with several beds set close together, a run-down building, an unkempt yard with the occasional broken toy laying in the mud. She was up in a tree; safe. Until they spotted her again at least. Unfortunately, her safe spot wasn't safe for a long as she'd hoped; a haphazardly thrown stone hit her hard in the side. "I found him, Francis, I found him!"
Damn that little bastard to hell.
She resisted the urge to climb to a higher branch, the last time she'd done that, she'd broken an arm, and a leg. The thought of doing so again, terrified her.
Francis sauntered up, he was clearly going to grow up to be a looker, and he was already a total prick. "Why dun you come down, eh frog-boy?"
'Like hell I will, you arse,' she thought, clinging a bit tighter to the tree branch.
"Pfft, fine, 'ave it yur way," He said, jerking his head in her general direction. She knew what was coming, and covered her head with her arms, a second later she was being pelted with a shower of sticks, and rocks, and whatever else those bastard children could get their grubby little hands on. Then the jeering started, the name calling and taunting that hurt far worse than any stone or fist.
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"Wake up already, yur moanin'," Toad was scowling at her tiredly through the hole he'd previously made in the wal, "Jeeze, I can' even sleep."
The sudden jolt awake had banished all the details of the dream, the true memory of it flickered out as quick as a candle being blown out. All she was left with was a deep, heart-wrenching pain. Suffocating pain, like a huge weight had been placed on her chest and try as she might she couldn't get free of it.
"Wot the 'ell is wrong wit you? Why're you cryin'? There was no note of sympathy or concern in his voice, the question was callous and harsh, demanding an answer rather than requesting it.
She was crying? She gingerly brushed her cheek, and felt that it was in fact wet with tears. "I-I… I just…"
"Just stop, it's annoyin', it was jist a dream."
"Heh, yeah. " No it hadn't been a dream, it felt a hell of a lot more real than that, it was definatly more than a dream.
…Right? Maybe her mind was playing with her. Maybe that dream was the catalyst to release that bitter loneliness, misery, and boredom that'd been building in her.
It was a bit of a struggle, but she managed to fall back asleep. This time it was a thankfully dreamless sleep. Her rude awakening this time came from someone throwing open the door and tossing her head-over-heels a good three times, effectively disorienting her with little to no effort.
Sabertooth was standing in the doorway glaring at her like her existence was the very bane of his. Let me tell you, he was a hell of a lot scarier from floor level too.
"Get up," he growled. Elizabeth was scrambling to her feet in a blink, unwilling to take any chance of displeasing him, but unable to right herself easily just the same.
She didn't know why he bothered with the orders, with his hand clamped onto her arm it wasn't like she had any choice in the matter.
Was this it Were they going to execute her? She was too young to die; she'd never have kids, she'd never gotten a script accepted, and she'd never got to go drinking… legally. This couldn't be happening…
Her grief was cut short when he shoved her into the bathroom, "Now take a bath, the water's been run."
Elizabeth stared at him in slack-jawed shock, not believing what she was hearing. She was going to get to take a bath? Finally? Good god it had been so long! Wait… there was still one thing wrong with this picture. "U-Uh… um… could I be alone? Please?" she asked meekly.
She'd already attempted the 'personal privacy and why women need it' talk with him once, and she'd gotten a pounding migraine along with her privacy. Honestly, they were so abusive… of coarse they were terrorists.
He curled his lip and snarled, "Fifteen minutes," he proclaimed gruffly, stepping outside the room and shutting the door. She would need to thank Toad later; regardless of his reasons, this arrangement could most likely be attributed to him.
In her sheer personal paranoia, she checked the room over thoroughly before considering stripping down, but just as she reached for the bottom of her pull-over, she caught sight of the air vent. Hell, they pulled this one off in the movies all the time. She hurriedly got the best footing she could on the edge of the porcelain tub and undid the grate.
" 'Ello luv, not thinking' of leavin', was ya?"
She fell backwards into the tub, fully clothed. It was a wonder she hadn't died in the fall. Toad leaned out of the vent enough for her to see his full, warty green face, and a toothy grin. Well, as tooth a grin as someone whose mouth was nearly 95 gums and tongue. It was disgusting, really.
"Now why don't you try bein' a good lil normie and take your bath, hm? Just ten more minutes now, your on the clock."
He ducked back into the vent and disappeared. Elizabeth sighed and slumped down in the water. So much for that plan. At least the water was nice. No… it was more than nice, it was heaven on earth. The warm water soothed her aching muscles, and she regretted having to move to take off her clothes so she could actually bathe.
That brought up another question, "Wait… what am I supposed to wear?"
"I 'spect you'll be needin' this." Toad poked his head out the vent again, causing Elizabeth to scream and almost tear off the shower curtain to maintain her dignity. Toad just smirked down at her and tossed her messenger bag on the floor beside her wet clothes, and disappeared again.
Nat that she wasn't grateful and all, but what the hell was up with that guy? A few hours ago he was an ass-load of seething rage, and now he was crawling around the air vents, and acting like a pervy teenage boy.
The inner workings of a madman were an impossible thing to fathom.
She finished up with about two minutes to spare, and-after scrubbing her undergarments as best she could-dressed in the green tank top, and green-threaded black pants that she kept in her bag. She looped that over her shoulder, and was about to pick up her wet clothes when Sabertooth opened the door, and grabbed her shoulder, "Come on, your done." He tossed her back in her cell, and set to his guard duty.
Elizabeth frowned, laying down, and pillowing her head with her bag. She'd brush her hair when she got up tomorrow.