CHAPTER 4: DO YOU REMEMBER?
Lyla waited for the mansion to fall into its nightly slumber since she wanted to avoid everyone. Ever since breaking Kurt's nose, everyone had something to say. She didn't. Tonight, her day off for the weekend, Lyla skirted around the kitchen. Dramatic classical music drowned out the noise and the voices pounding at the back of her skull.
Intune with her safe space, arriving footsteps alluded to her as she put the first cake in the oven.
"Do you ever sleep?" Logan huffed, maneuvering around her toward the fridge.
"Sleep? Can yah use it in a sentence?" Lyla asked quietly.
Logan snorted, handed her a beer, then hopped on the granite island top. A few moments of silence passed when he finally asked, "What's the deal between you and Stripes?"
Lyla's shoulders sagged, annoyed, as she began to beat eggs for her square chocolate cake. "Ah didn't take yah as the talkative type."
She turned to face him.
His brows scrunched, trying to figure her out.
Ha. Get in line, buddy.
Lyla focused on her cake, unable to look him in the eye much longer. The classical music brings her back to reality. No one asks about her and Rogue's relationship. Hell, Lyla isn't sure where it all went wrong. Or right? Rogue was the golden child—the one everyone praised and adored. Lyla was the younger sibling who wanted to be like her elder sister—wanting to make her proud. Somewhere along the lines, Lyla stopped caring when Rogue showed her how much of a fraud she was.
"It's complicated," Lyla said above the music, "especially with Mystique and Sabretooth as parents."
Raven never got along with Creed unless they were fucking. It's vile to say and or think about parents, but it's true. Mama showed love and compassion to two people, Irene and Rogue. There wasn't any more room for her and Graydon. Lyla came to terms years ago, but Graydon didn't, and we all know where he ended up.
Fuck you.
"Yer sayin' Raven isn't a great mother?" Logan said with sarcasm twined with his words, "Who woulda thought it?"
THREAD THE NEEDLE by Sleep Token
As fast as lightning, Lyla flew out the kitchen window. Unaware of the constant barrage of punches and kicks, she had a hard time protecting herself. With the force of a kick, Lyla's body snapped a tree in half. Its splintered parts wedged into her spine as glass from the kitchen window began to itch under her skin.
She winced on her hands and knees, ready for the attack to continue. She mustered the strength to push off the ground when it didn't. Her emotionless honey-amber eyes connect with rage-filled emerald green eyes.
"This is startin' to get old," Lyla mumbled, spitting up blood.
Logan and Cody, huh…odd company sister is keepin', kept Rogue back. But she tried to advance, ready for round two.
"Yah just enjoy takin' family away from me. Hit me where it hurts most, huh?" Rogue snarled—her words filled with disgust, anger, and a hint of pain.
One of Lyla's eyes was sealed shut thanks to a few glass shards wedged into the tissue. If she removed it, the healing process would be quick, unlike in the past. She'll wait until she's finished getting the lashing from Rogue.
"What did Peter tell yah?" Her breath ragged.
Rogue didn't answer her question; instead, she said, "Ah told yah to wait." There's the pain again, brittle with tears. "Ah told yah to wait for me. A—and y—yah, killed him. Zero hesitation."
'It's about yah,' Lyla said to one of her voices.
He didn't respond. Of course.
Lyla staggered toward Rogue. One eye was covered in blood, while the other focused on the tears rolling down her sister's face. Fueled by nothing. No longer angry for the beating Rogue put on her, Lyla's words were emotionless as she said, "he deserved it."
"Yah shoulda let me see him." Rogue shoved Logan and Cody off her. Finally, calm.
"And yah shoulda let me see Irene. One last time."
Rogue balled her fist against Lyla's chest, "Yah killed our blood out of spite?"
"Wake Up!" Lyla barked. Rogue took a step back in shock. "Ah ain' the got damn enemy yah concocted in yah delusional head. He killed Irene. Blew up the house!"
Lyla was the problem child when they were younger. Sneak out of the house to hang out with her friends. Go against Mama's wishes. She fought at school, much to her father's happiness. She cared for Rogue when her nightmares got terrible, cooked dinner for Rogue when her missions with Mama didn't go as planned, and taught Rogue how to play the guitar to impress Cody. She was the problem child while everyone forgot about Graydon.
Lyla said with a bit more malice than intended, "Put yah hands on me again, and Ah won't hold back."
Smelling her cake burn, Lyla walked back into the kitchen. First, she must remove the glass from her eye before she finishes her art project.
"What's sleep, ain' that what yah said, little sister?" Graydon sneered.
CHAPTER TWELVE: SHORES AND THE NEW WORLD by Levi The Poet
After one of the many missions where something gets lodged in my eye, this time a knife, Mali tried helping me into the house. Emma and Selene thought living off the hellfire property would bring them a sense of peace. Which, they weren't wrong. We felt at home, at peace, and the arguments between the princess and I were few.
Until my long leg rammed into the wall. Her head was down, lips cursing as she searched for the house key.
Slipping out of her warmth, I bent over, flipped over the mat, and opened the door for us. Puffing, I leaned against the counter. The smell of burning singed my nose.
Uriel.
He was trying to cook again.
Will he ever learn he can never create the same masterpieces as I? hell, neither can I. He came from around the corner, his sleeves messy from the sauce he was concocting. His hair is a mess. And…is he bleeding? Lord have mercy.
A towel draped over his bleeding hands, "Did you jump in front of the knife for her again?"
Malakai huffed. A few hair ringlets coiled in her face, "Not this time." She closed the door behind her set up the lock, and the security. "She didn't trust me in the fight, and she let someone stab her in the eye."
Uriel laughed and went back to the kitchen.
Ignoring them, I found the little strength I had left to hoist myself up the stairs and to the bedroom. Rogue called earlier in the week and said FOH members were hosting a poker game, and we should look. It happened to be the mob run by Fisk. Which I didn't know, and it became a blood bath.
Emma sent him an apology message and paid him what he had lost. This reminds her she needs to send Emma back the lump sum.
Her mistake. Her money.
For thirty minutes, I sat on my bed, trying to search for the courage to rip the knife from my eye socket. I removed all the other appendages except that one. It'll hurt like a mother fucker. It's also going to suck when it goes through the healing process.
A wave of lavender and coconut came from the door. Fresh from a shower and wearing an oversized jersey, Mali walked into the room. The closer she got, the more I recognized that her jersey was mine.
"Is that mine?!"
Mali didn't respond. Instead, she braced a foot on the door, and her soft touch snaked up to my face.
"Take a deep breath."
"What are yah doin'? don—"
A soft knock removed Lyla from the old memory. Wanda, making a surprise appearance, stepped into
Lyla's room. A slight wince on her face, seeing the blood staining the sheets. And the splinters from the tree pierced her body. Glass illuminating her cheeks, mouth, nose, and eyes. If this is how Emma feels when she turns into a diamond, it's rough. The other bruises and cuts healed from Rogue's rage.
Lyla's shoulders sagged, "If yah came to make me feel worse," her lungs wheezed, afraid the tears would come. Graydon looked back at her in the mirror. His voice taunted her. Replaying his death and hers.
"I didn't." Wanda softly entered the room. Her back facing the bathroom mirror. Protecting Lyla from Graydon's face.
The pads of her fingers met, ready to conjure her hexes to remove the glass and tree parts. Lyle grabbed Wanda's wrist, "One by one is fine."
"You're going to be in pain; it's better to do it all at once. I can take you to Hank if you want—"
"Ah need to feel somethin'. Better to do that with you than with him."
The temptation to scratch away the irritation digging under her skin was strong. She took a deep breath and pushed down the stupid notion when Wanda ripped a shard of glass from her face. The irritation returned when the skin healed.
"I thought you'd fight back this time."
"Ah, couldn't."
Wanda raised a brow, "Why?"
"Ah woulda killed her."
"A-Ah…Ah don't know what came over me, but…A-Ah wanted to kill her." Rogue said out loud. Her inner dialogue meshes with the outside world. She wanted to rip Lyla apart. Wait for her to patch herself back together and start the process again.
Cody grounded her back to the present when he asked, "When did yah get to be so strong?"
Rage filled her to the brim. She forgot Cody took her home. After the bomb Peter dropped on her, she couldn't think or speak. Lyla's disobedience sent her into a downward spiral. After she finished attacking her sister, Rogue flicked her fire-filled eyes toward Cody.
He cowards at her cold glare. Afraid he's next.
Logan, for now, took a step back, puffing on a cigar. Later, he'll butt into her business, asking what the hell is going on. Tonight, it could wait.
Lyla wasn't the only one Peter spilled secrets about.
"Yah killed William. A Shaw?" Rogue accused Cody.
The world thanks him for his sacrifice in ending the prick's life, but the principle stands, "Are yah out of yah fuckin' mind?"
William Shaw, a perverted asshole, wasn't a pawn. Not only was he the son of the Shaw dynasty, he was the white bishop of the Circle. A decision maker. He's a creative mind, and Cody just…killed him—no thought behind it.
Cody, calm, said, "Ah don't know what you want me to tell you, Possum."
Rogue rubbed her face, "Quit callin' me that! We ain' ten no more." She glanced past him toward Logan, "We'll talk about it more tomorrow. Yah stayin' the night. Ah fear someone is gonna try and kill yah if yah try to leave."
"Ah, got me—"
He tried protesting but thought better of it when he looked into Rogue's eyes.
"Let's go." She grabbed onto his hand and stomped up the stairs to her room. She laid out a sleeping bag for him, a pillow, and watched him crawl into its depths.
Once he fell asleep, she walked out to the pavilion, needing fresh air—time to think and process what had happened these past few days.
Wanda stood, seeing Rogue make her way to her quiet place. Her face contorted in thought, and her brows furrowed with frustration.
Not in the mood, Rogue walked past her, "Whatever yah have to say Ah don't wanna hear it."
"You're out of line," Wanda said, anyway.
Rogue stopped on the cobbled walkway, "Am Ah?"
"You planned to kill Graydon! So sorry for not understanding why you decided to go crazy on your sister."
Rogue marched up to Wanda. Neither was backing down from the other.
"Ah wasn't sure if he was the monster. Everyone made him out. Ah had to be sure."
"There was video evidence as we watched it LIVE?!" Wanda pointed out to her.
Rogue snarled, "He was MY brother! Ah couldn't just kill him!"
"And what about your sister?!" Wanda pointed at the mansion behind her. "Lyla is your family! The same one who's been loyal to you for years. But go on, continue to idolize the bastard Graydon." Her voice calmed, "Because it's always about you and your feelings." Sighing, Wanda stomped back inside.
How else should she react? Graydon was her brother, despite his rage toward her and the world.