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All Through the Night Part 2 written by Spidee
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Copyright: All Marvel characters belong to Marvel (surprisingly), and all non-Marvel characters usually belong to me. Brian Cordain is MINE (he's being patented as I write). His clothes are ALSO MINE (wait...that's not what I meant)
Whine if you hate it, cheer if you don't, but if you want it to be heard, send it to attn@webspanned.com.
This character is most likely NOT going to continue on after All Through The Night, so I better make it pretty long, eh? This is not an infinite continuum, however...Brian Cordain and All Through The Night will most likely reach a conclusion in the near future.
Once again....
BRIAN CORDAIN AND ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT COPYRIGHT 1999 REBECCA WEISS
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::Denotes telepathy::
{Denotes ones' thoughts}
Brian looked around the basement. A new bed had been brought down into the room, where he had asked for it to be put in the darkest corner. He asked for a small chest of drawers and a desk...and he asked Jonothon if he could have that small corner to himself.
::S'long as you do th'same to me, new boy::
Brian was an organized person, and the disorderly nature of his roommate led him to think about his predicament. {Face it, Cordain...you're going to go nuts with this guy.} He measured the wall that his bed was flush with, lengthwise. {Enough space for my shelves. Where's the studfinder?} he thought. He liked working with his hands; always as a kid he said he was going to be either a carpenter or a mechanic. {Well...not much of a chance that I'll be doing that now, is there?}
Brian found the studs in the wall and aligned his shelves. There were only two of them, and they were only for books and small belongings. {Small belongings...hah...like I have many.} He finished aligning the shelves and began the pound in the shelf-holders. The steady, monotonous movement of simple hammering was soothing to him; he realized it had been a long time since he had done any work that involved tools.
{Ever since the blasted sliding started.} Brian didn't begin sliding until the middle of his maturing process; sliding wasn't his first mutant ability to show up. His shifting in light was the first giveaway.
Brian stepped back after he placed the shelves on the holders. {Not bad.} They were straight and sturdy, and Brian set his duffel on his bed and started to unload his books.
He was aware that there wasn't anyone else in the room, so he kept the room pitch-black dark. Except to him. One of the only times he ever took off his shade-goggles was when he was sure he was alone and that it was basically black in the room he was in. For the room to be completely black was also the only way he would have been able to work on his corner of the room. He never felt more naked than those select moments when he could have complete peace.
There was always that disorientation feeling he got when he was shifting, or the tugging that he got whenever he tried to slide through things or pull out of objects; not enough to be painfully distracting, but damn annoying.
He pulled out from his duffel bag what he had thought to be a book until he noticed it was a framed picture. Peering at the front of it, he felt his heart drop to around the area of his stomach. {Kathy.} He thumbed the girl whose arm he had over. {I'm sorry.} He put the picture on the small study desk next to his bed.
"Special someone, Mr. Cordain?" Brian frowned at the voice of Emma Frost.
"How did you get in here without me hearing you? How can you see in here, anyway?"
"I'm looking through your eyes...and I hid myself from those ears of yours. Basic mind-control 101." Brian turned to face her. She scowled as she said, "As you can see, I'm complying with your wishes of verbal communication."
"Thank you. I appreciate it."
Emma cocked her head. "You never answered my question, Mr.Cordain. Who is she?"
"That's none of your business," he said heatedly.
"Your thoughts are enough to tell me everything but I want to hear them from your own mouth. Who is the young girl?"
Brian grimaced. {Damn her telepathy.} "She's --"
"Brian? Emma? Are ye all down here? Lord...how can ye see anything down here?" Both Brian and Emma turned to see Sean stumbling around in the dark of the room.
"We're over here, Sean." Emma smirked to herself as Sean tripped over a boot of Jono's.
"Brian, would it be all right with ye if I turned the lights on?"
"Why don't we just all go upstairs, instead?" Emma suggested. Sean beamed in relief.
"I'll meet ye up there," and he raced back upstairs.
"Coming, Mr. Cordain?" Emma said casually as she walked back upstairs. For the briefest of moments, Brian was alone in the basement...and he felt uneasy in the dark. Grabbing his shade-goggles, he strapped them on and went back upstairs.
******
Paige sat on the large stone in the Danger Grotto, having failed to husk into wood yet again. Instead, this time, she found herself husking into a plastic-like material; plastic with wood grain in a blue-brown shell.
{Ah'm never gonna get this right,} she thought, annoyed. Peering at the pile of discarded skins, she poked through the various materials. {At least ah didn't husk into that disgusting skin from last week.}
"What are you thinking about?" Paige squinted against the 'sunlight' to see Brian taking a break from his own training.
{I've never had to think so hard in my life,} Brian thought wearily to himself. Yesterday all he had to do was watch and observe the training, get himself coordinated with the team, activities following those lines. However, he had been completely taken surprise for today, even with forewarning from Everett. Taking the more experienced boy's advice, he had dressed more comfortably for the training; grey sweatpants and a darker greyish-blue t-shirt, and his ever-present baseball cap.
"Just feeling really...incapable," Paige answered with a drawn-out sigh. Brian sat next to her and promptly sank two inches into the ground before cathing himself. As he attempted to pull himself out of the ground, Paige turned to face him.
"Aren't they teaching you how to control that?" she said, nodding in his direction. He grimaced.
"They're trying. It's not the easiest of things to control, they said. It seems like this," he motioned downwards at his body, "is my natural state. At least in light. I've been concentrating for the past hour on not sliding because I have more control over sliding than I do shifting. But right now I'm getting a headache. So. I'm resting. That's why I'm sinking a bit; it hurts too much to concentrate too hard."
"I've got some more questions for you," Paige said aloud, almost absent-mindedly. She moved to sit back down on the ground as she had the previous day. Brian gave a hint of smirk at her remark.
"More personal stuff?" he asked, only slightly apprehensive. She shook her head.
"About your powers."
Brian's body relaxed noticeably. "Go ahead."
"How come I can see through you and your clothes?"
Brian frowned and plucked at his shirt. "Shifting is different than sliding," he said slowly, thinking of what to say before he said it. "It's more like the light around me is bending away so I look transparent. Ms. Frost says it's unconsciously done. I can't actually become one hundred percent invisible, I guess. At least, that's the explanation me and Kath...I mean my friend came up with."
Paige knew a no-touch subject when she heard one and that was a definite no-touch. Despite what Jubilee thought, she wasn't some inbred hick who knew nothing about subtlety. She chose instead to ask him another question.
"What if I were to throw something at you? Would it just go through?"
He grinned almost mischievously. "If I see it coming, or if I have some forewarning, then I usually can at least partially solidify. Don't get any ideas, Paige...I can sense practical jokes."
Paige grinned back at him. "Nuts," she said, pretending to be hurt.
Brian straightened up. "What about you? I don't really know exactly what you can do except rip off your skin and have a different body underneath."
Paige sighed almost as if she were exhausted. "I'm a metamorph. Means I can shed my skin and there's a different form underneath."
"This 'morphing' is that ripping-the-skin-off deal, isn't it?'
"Yeah, I guess."
"Can't you just morph into objects or animals instead of just materials?"
Paige shifted uncomfortably and tried not to remember that time when she was put on the line -- {And all ah could husk inta was a blasted sparrow.} "I can. I guess I just prefer this kind of morphing better. I've done different animals before," she said, almost defensively.
Brian shrugged. "It's your ability, so it's your choice." He tugged off his cap and shoved his glorious hair away from his eyes. He sighed as he stared at his semi-transparent hand.
"You realize that with all this hard work, all this hope, everything...you realize I might not be able to be completely normal again?"
Paige stood up and held her hand out to him. He looked up at her. "So what?" was her response.
He grasped her hand after some thought and pulled himself up. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked warily.
Paige grinned. "I mean...well, just think. Here on one hand is the X-Men, devoting their entire lives to a dream. So far almost nothing has been pushed their way. Mutants have got everything against them nowadays; Legacy, racism, the," she paused for the briefest of moments, "Friends of Humanity . But they still get up every morning and wear these ridiculous uniforms," Brian smiled, "and they keep on moving forward."
Brian had been watching Paige carefully during her small speech. "You really feel strongly for all this mutant-rights stuff, don't you?"
Paige flushed. "Yes, I do. Just think about it, Brian. People from the future have come to this time and have told the X-Men that basically they lose. And yet they still move on." Paige shook her head in admiration. "I wish I could be like them," she said softly to herself.
"What?"
"I said I wish that one day I could be like them."
"I know what you said, I just didn't understand what you meant."
Paige looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
As they headed toward the rest of the team, Brian explained. "You're your own person, Paige Guthrie. Just like I'm Brian Cordain and Everett is Everett Thomas and Monet is Monet St. Croix and --"
"I get the picture."
Brian grinned. "You can't wish to be like somebody if you didn't want to be them. In my humble opinion, of course."
"What're you saying?"
Brian looked at Paige. "Why don't you just come out and say you just want to be an X-Man rather than just wanting to be like them?" Paige looked at him, puzzled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she said, quoting him. He smiled a slow smile.
"Just an interesting observation on my part."
Before Paige could answer, Sean asked them to join the team in a group activity.
******
Jonothon Starsmore was in the basement, sitting on his couch, rather than going up with the team for their training.
{I go sometimes,} he thought to himself. {I just don't bloody feel like going, lately.} He scratched the back of his head with his hand and reached for his remote control. {That backwoods Yank's gonna be coming back down soon.} Jono cocked his head and listened intensely for a few moments before turning on the television. {I can 'ear them now. They're gonna be coming tromping in and 'e's gonna come tromping through here breaking into my privacy.} Jono bristled. {Listen t'me...I don't got any privacy anymore, I lost that as soon as I volunteered his bunking wi'me.} Jono 'sighed' and sank into the couch, turning the volume of the TV up several notches.
His eyes flickered away from the television set to Brian's small corner of the room. {Fastidious Yankee. Even made sure the shelves were straight. Bloody 'ell.} Jonothon stood up and made his way to the small desk that Brian had requested. {Wot's this?}
There was a picture on his desk, a picture of Brian with his arm around a girl. {Cordain pre-mutation,} Jonothon thought. {Snappy-lookin' guy, weren't 'e?} In the picture, Brian was not wearing his shade-goggles and his hazel eyes were normal. His hair was longer, and he was smiling broadly. {Who's the gel?}
The girl was, without a doubt, pretty, in an unusual way. Her brassy dark red hair fell in waves around her strong shoulders, and her grey eyes were sparkling. Jono was reminded of a fey appearance to the girl, with her small, elfin chin and nose, and her feline-mischievous eyes. Her mouth was turned in a quirky smile and her small-boned body was slim, but muscular. {Cordain's girl, maybe?} Jono peered closer into the picture. The girl wore no make-up, was wearing sensible, outdoorsy clothing, and her arm was just as tightly wrapped around Brian's waist as his arm was draped over her shoulders. {I wonder...I wonder wot 'er name is?} Jonothon turned the picture frame over and slid the backing off.
Jonothon stopped suddenly as he heard the upstairs door open. {Oh...shit.} He knew he should put the picture back but he was too curious to let it be. He moved faster.
It was a simple Kodak picture, not Kodak Gold or anything. There was a message on the back of the picture.
Hey, Johnny Woodworker!
Remember this shot? What a day we had! We all miss you back here in Montana! When are you coming back to live here again?
Love ya babe,
Katharine
{I'll be damned. New kid's got a mystery past!} Jono heard steps coming from the stairs. He shoved the photo back into the frame and quickly slid the backing into place. Refraining from just throwing the picture back on Brian's desk, he whirled around to see Brian flickering in the pale glow from the television. For a moment both boys stared at each other in silent contest, seeing which one would look away first. Neither boy did. Brian reached over and turned the volume down on the television.
"Could I ask what you're doing?" he said icily.
Jonothon examined Brian. He was extremely agitated, his face contorted into a scowl, and his hands were gripped into fists. Jonothon saw the tightly corded muscles on his lean arms were bunched together and his neck seemed to be set in cement. His strong jaw was clenched and his jaw muscles were working furiously. {Definitely agitated,} Jonothon thought.
::Calm down, Cordain. I were lookin' at yer girl here.::
Brian strode toward Jonothon with powerful, forceful strides. "She's not my girlfriend," he snapped. He faced Jonothon, his nose inches away from Jonothon's scarred face.
::Then who's she?:: Jonothon was beyond curious now. {How could this one photo get the new kid all steamed? What's the history behind it?}
Brian slammed the picture face down on his desk. "All of you people are nosy!" he hissed angrily. "What she is...is...is none of your business!" he finished, no longer just agitated, but furious.
Jonothon was stunned. {Bloody Yankee's got a temper! Well well. Knew he was human after all.} Jono tried to compose his face into a suitably apologetic expression. {Hard t'do when you only got half a face t'work wi'.}
::I got ya, mate. I'm sorry --::
"Just don't do it again," Brian said, sounding old and tired. He took a long shaky breath before speaking again. "I apologize for yelling at you."
{Gah! Wot a mama's boy.} Jono didn't answer Brian's apology. He walked back to his couch and sat back down, taking the channel-changer and flicking between channels haphazardly. MTV, news, cartoons; all flashed on the TV within seconds. When he looked up again, Brian was standing next to him.
"I really am sorry," he started saying.
::Listen, new kid, I said I were sorry too. We can be sorry together. Awright?::
Brian looked defeated. "Yeah." He walked out of the basement without so much as another word. Jonothon 'sniffed' in his mind.
{Goddamn...knew I were gonna regret this.}
******
"Where ya from, Bri?" Angelo Espinosa said around a mouthful of Doritos. Brian stiffened and inched away slighly from everyone.
The majority of the male members of Generation X were in the rec room, watching 'SpaceBalls: The Movie' on the wide-screen television. Everett was on the couch with Brian, Angelo sat on the floor between them. Together, they had managed to get the girls to scurry away so they could have a 'get-to-know-new-kid' night. Brian, of course, knew none of this.
Angelo and Everett had gone through pains to make sure they would get the shy, withdrawn non-student member to open up. They rented Mel Brooks movies, who, according to Everett, was one of the best producers of comedy. "He's guaranteed to talk when SpaceBalls is on the screen, I swear." Angelo, rolling his eyes, claimed that if Everett got to pick the movies, he got to pick out food.
"Yeah, Brian, you never did tell us where you're from," Everett said, turning to face Brian. Brian had noticeably stiffened.
"Maine," he said, his voice a shade too strangled to be relaxed. "I was born and raised there."
Angelo scoffed. "New Englander, eh?"
Brian started to relax a little. Everett noticed his previous reaction to Angelo's question and was curious.
{What was that about? Just a simple question about where he came from.} During Brian's strangled response to the query, Everett's curiousity grew. {He's lying. He's so obviously lying. Where's he really from?}
Several minutes of the movie passed, before Everett decided to ask another question. "Why'd you come here?" Everett said carefully, making sure not to alarm Brian. He had a feeling that if they pushed too hard, he would clam up and not answer.
Brian faced Everett, distrust etched into his face. "Why would you ask that?" he said. The way that he worded his question pushed Everett to believe that he had been right.
"I mean, most of us came here 'cause we were asked or 'cause we believed in Xavier's dream --"
"Don't get no ideas about Mr. Espinosa, chico. I were asked to come here by Beastie McCoy," Angelo said, hand in the Doritos bag. Brian smiled faintly.
"I came here to learn how to become normal again. That's it." Brian inched further away from Everett and Angelo. Everett noticed this and continued to wonder. {He's so withdrawn. Why are all these questions scaring him?} The teacher in Everett responded forcefully. Ask him more, it said. Get him to tell you.
"You know," Everett said slowly, "you can't really be normal again. You can pass as a non-mutant, but your genes can't change. You know that, right?"
Brian looked at Everett, a careful blankness painted on his features.
"'Cause, you know, that if we could just change our genes so we weren't mutants, almost half of the current mutants would be 'normal' in a heartbeat. Like Angelo over here." Angelo shifted on the ground as a response. "You do realize all this, don't you?"
Brian was quiet for a moment. Then, after some careful thought, he spoke up, his eyes on the upholstery of the couch between them. "I just want to be able to go back home without people staring at me. I want to be able to live the life I've always wanted to. I don't care about this 'dream' of yours, I don't care about fighting crime or whatever it is you all do. I just want to be me again." He looked back up at Everett. Everett was surprised to see that his normally fair skin had red splotches spread unevenly throughout his face. "Can you understand that?"
Everett examined Brian before he even thought about his answer. {He's so...solitary. How could he not want to help others? Then again, if I had powers like his, I might just want to be normal, too.} Everett looked away from Brian's tortured expression. {I know I have it luckier than Angelo or Jono or him. I can walk out on streets without people pointing at me and screaming 'mutant!' But I never even thought about being a non-mutant. Being 'Synch of Generation X' is who I am now. Could I turn away from that?} He looked back up at Brian. {He certainly could turn away from everything. Maybe he has something. Something or someone that he wants to go back to. And he can't imagine a life without it.}
"I guess I can understand that."
******
The three girls, having been shunned of a movie marathon with the boys, sat in Monet's room, having a 'session.' The current topic of conversation was, obviously, Brian.
"He's very quiet," Monet said first. "Finally a boy who is not loud, smelly, or obnoxious." Monet looked at Jubilee. "Or a girl."
"I heard that, ya prissy brat." Jubilee sat on the floor flipping through some of Monet's books. "How can ya understand this crud?"
"I have intelligence that is above the average American potato."
Jubilee bristled, but before she could retort, Paige brought them back to the subject matter on hand.
"How do you think Angelo and Everett are doing?"
Jubilee stretched out on her back, facing Paige and Monet, who were both sitting on Monet's bed. "They probably got him turned into a loud, smelly, and obnoxious boy by now." Monet rolled her eyes.
"Paige, why don't you tell us what you know about him? You have talked the most with the new boy," Monet suggested. Jubilee's eyes twinkled.
"Yeah, you have...we saw you getting chummy with ol' Brian, didn't we Monet?"
"We?" Jubilee cracked her gum and glared.
"What are you talking about?" Paige said warily. "Are you thinking that I have a romantic interest in him?"
Jubilee and Monet just looked at Paige. She threw up her hands.
"Oh, come on, he's just nice to talk to."
"Nice, eh?" Jubilee said, grinning widely. "'An' he's just nice-looking an' nice to me an' --'"
"I do not have a romantic interest in Brian, Jubilee."
"Perhaps you harbor some left-over romantic angst from Jonothon's spurning, leaving a subliminal interest in 'mysterious young men' which has been thus transferred to Brian?" Monet cocked her head. "Am I too far off the mark?"
Paige and Jubilee just stared at Monet. "Why don't you just say 'you have a crush on him,' huh?" Paige scowled. "And to answer that, I will reiterate my previous response; No, I do not."
Jubilee rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. "Both o'ya vocabulary types...tell me when ya speak English again."
******
"Do you have any family?" Everett asked as Angelo got up to change the videos. "Sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles...?"
Brian shook his head strongly. "No. No family. Just my mother and me."
Angelo grinned as he came back. "You gotta talk to Country mouse then."
"Country mouse?" Brian asked, confused. Angelo chuckled.
"Paige, chico. The girl you talk to during training. You got the eye for her?"
Brian shook his head even more strongly. "Uh uh, no...I already got a girlfriend."
"Oh? Back in Maine waiting for you?" {Could this be the reason why he wants to go back home?}
"Yeah, that's it," Brian muttered. "She's back in Maine." He turned back to Angelo. "So why do I have to talk to Paige about family?"
"The chica's got more brothers and sisters than she has hairs on her head. You heard about 'Sam the X-Man' yet?"
"Just a little about him."
Angelo guffawed. "Just a little? Just a little? She hasn't told you his life-story yet? Or how she saved his life before? Or how he's supposed to be an External? Or how he's --"
"No, Angelo, she hasn't." Brian found himself smiling a little. "Why would she?"
"She worships her brother, man. He's her god. He's who she wants to be like. An' she wants to do what he does." Angelo settled back into his former position on the floor. "Man, I can't believe she ain't talked your ear off about him, yet. Get her on the subject of ol' Cannonball --"
"Cannonball?"
"It's his codename, like mine's Skin and Ev's is Synch and Paige is Husk and so on. Get her on the subject of her brother and she won't get off on it."
Brian grinned, deciding not to tell 'Skin' that she was the one who said 'but enough about Sam' to him. "Okay, I'll do that."
"So what happened to your father, Brian?" Everett said, watching Brian's reaction carefully.
******
Paige sighed as she attempted to disarm her fellow teammates. "Jubilee, just get it through your head; I do not have a crush on Brian Cordain. Is that simple enough for you?"
Jubilee sat up. "Okay, hayseed, whatever you say." Paige moaned and shook her head. "What do you guys talk about, anyway?"
Paige screwed up her face as she thought. "We just...talk, I guess. I mean, he told me has a sister that lives with his father, and then we talk about little stuff like his powers and, well, just subjects like that."
"So he's got a sister, huh?" Jubilee stated, twisting her head on the ground toward Paige. "Did he say anything about her? Age? Description?"
"Well, no..."
Jubilee's overactive imagination took charge. "Maybe he's lying!" Both Monet and Paige stared at the younger girl.
"Jubilation, why would he lie about having a sister?" Jubilee just stared at Monet as an answer, and Monet grew dark in the face. "That was in poor taste."
"You deserved it." Jubilee shrugged. Paige, sensing a monstrous fight about to begin, found herself stepping in between them again.
"Jubes, there's no reason why he would lie about having a sister." Paige shook her head in a disbelieving fashion. "He's just not like that."
"Aw, come on! Think about it! The guy just basically pops in out o'nowhere, doesn't talk with any of us 'cept you, and pretty much stays to himself. He wears those freaky sunglasses and never takes'em off. He's creepy! 'Sides...he's gotta have a secret of some sort."
"He is secretive," Monet said thoughtfully, all traces of anger carefully smoothed away. "He does act rather strangely toward all of us, except you, Paige."
******
Danger! Danger! Brian's instinct was screaming painfully at him. He felt the palms of his hands growing sticky with moisture and felt beads of cold sweat breaking through the skin underneath his shirt.
"My father," he heard his voice say, "is..." Danger! "Dead. My father is dead." {What are you saying? What are you saying? They'll find out you're lying!} Brian could tell that Everett was on to him, could see that he wasn't being completely truthful. He could see the aura of curiousity emanating from him. And all the answers he gave weren't disarming it.
"Oh. I'm sorry," Everett said, appearing to be genuinely apologetic. "I had no idea."
"It's okay." Brian shifted uncomfortably in his seat. {Why do they ask so many questions? Why can't they just leave me alone?} "What about you, Everett? Do you have any family?"
Everett had the decency to act embarassed. "Yeah, my parents and my adopted brother and sister."
"Adopted?" Brian cocked his head. "Older or younger?" Everett looked down at his hands.
"They're both younger than me. Both were adopted after I was born. I don't think I have to tell you why they were adopted, or do I?" Everett looked back at the TV.
{That's good, Brian...shift the uncomfort to another person. Distract the guy who's just trying to get to know you.} "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to do that. I didn't know."
"I didn't know about your father either, so let's just leave it at that, okay?" Everett said easily. All forgiven. Brian wondered why he couldn't do that. "Oh, this is a good part! She tries to jump off the balcony and on her horse..." Everett began to talk about Robin Hood:Men in Tights, but Brian wasn't really paying attention.
{Why do I do that? Why can't I just tell them the truth? Just open up, Brian. Come on. Just tell him. "Everett, I..." He couldn't speak, suddenly. It was if the air had been stripped from his lungs and his vocal chords contracted. He squeaked.
"Huh?" Everett stopped his lecture on the intricacies of Mel Brooks humor to look at Brian. Angelo turned to see why Everett had stopped talking.
"Nothing. What were you saying again?"
******
Paige and Jubilee had left Monet alone to go to their respective rooms and as Jubilee said good-night, Paige was left alone in the dark to wonder.
{Could Jubilee be right? Could he really be lying ta all of us?} Paige was ashamed to be thinking such distrusting thoughts about her new friend, but the seed of suspicion had been planted and it was growing under the constant attention. {He seems so nice, though! And he's not creepy, he's shy...he's just fine when we talk. But he did seem kinda anxious when ah asked him personal stuff.}
Paige turned in her bed toward the window and watched the clouds slowly move over the moon. {Jonothon didn't seem ta like him that much that first night. But Jonothon doesn't like anyone. But then why would Jonothon volunteer ta room with Brian?} Paige frowned into her pillow. {It just doesn't make sense. Ah don't get it. Brian is secretive...but he's just shy. Ah can't believe that he's just lying about everything. Ms. Frost woulda seen through him immediately. He's no psi.} Paige sighed and flipped over onto her back. {Ah wonder if he really does have a sister? Or even a family.} Paige sighed.
{Listen ta me. Here ah am, the only person the kid's opened up to, and ah'm actually listening to the others. No wonder he don't talk ta them! They think he's creepy...well, he's got a right ta think they're just as creepy!} Paige sighed once more and put her head under her pillow. {Enough. Ah'm gettin' a headache.}
"Hayseed...stop movin' around," said Jubilee's tired voice. Paige sighed once more to annoy Jubilee and vowed to go straight to sleep.
******
"Whoever thought of this early-morning practice is nuts," Brian muttered to himself as he shivered in his flannel shirt and jeans. Jubilee, shivering next to him companionably, nodded in assension.
"Ya got the general idea of Generation X there, new kid. Most of these guys are nuts." Jubilee pulled her arms tighter around her. "Don't even get me started on Guthrie's mental health."
"Mental health?"
"She don't got any mental health. She's the nuttiest of all of us." Both Brian and Jubilee turned to see Paige smiling and chatting with Everett as if it were in the middle of the day. "Sh'yeah, see that? Talkin' like it ain't negative five million degrees here."
Brian noticed that for the first time since he had arrived, Jonothon Starsmore had decided to grace the training sessions with his appearance. He stood as far as he could away from Brian and, as if sensing the boy was thinking about him, turned to him and glared.
Brian turned away.
"All right, lads and lasses. We're gonna have an easy session this wee mornin'." Banshee gave a near maniacal smile. "And may the best mutant win."
Almost everyone groaned. "Another one of these hand-to-hand combat lessons, Irish?" Jubilee spat. "Why?"
"I can see that ye're all depending on yuir abilities again. We'll just have t'remedy that with a clean, smooth...body brace." Sean Cassidy chuckled to himself. "Rules are no powers, and no dirty tricks." He gave a glance in Jubilee's direction. "I mean it this time, lass."
Jubilee stuck a piece of gum in her mouth as a response. Brian raised his hand.
"What am I supposed to do, Mr. Cassidy? I'm not sure I can stay solid for this exercise. Can I just go back to sleep?"
"'Fraid not, lad. Ye can watch an' learn, though." Sean smiled broadly. "First one up!"
"God, it's cold. If I had stayed home, I wouldn't have had to do any of this wake-up-at-six-and-get-beaten-up garbage," Brian said more to himself than to anyone. Angelo snorted.
"Colder up there in Maine than it is here, isn't it?" Jonothon's head swerved to face the two boys.
::Yer from Maine?:: he asked, disbelievingly, not really asking a question. Brian swallowed and nodded.
"He were born an' raised there," Angelo said, quoting Brian's words. Jonothon's eyes narrowed.
::Really.::
"Yeah. Really."
::Johnny Woodworker?:: Suddenly Brian's demeanor changed, from tired to furious. Brian stopped shivering and found himself wishing that Jonothon could be strangled.
"Where did you hear that?" he stated, even though he knew damn well where Jonothon had found that name. Jonothon 'sneered' with what was left of his face and continued quoting.
::'Remember this shot? What a day we had! We all miss you back here in Montana! When are you coming back to live here again?::
Both Angelo and Everett looked at each other. "Montana?" Angelo mouthed. Everett shrugged. "Hey, chico, I thought you said you --"
::Love ya babe, Katharine.::
By this time, even Sean noticed the tension that was building. Brian was fuming now, his hands clenched into fists and a vein was pumping in his right temple and his neck.
"You read my picture," he said, dangerously quiet. He started to walk toward Jonothon. "Why?"
::I don't trust you, Yankee. I know yer got some kinda secret and I don't trust you.:: Jonothon started to move toward Brian. ::I don't think me friends like being lied to, either.:: Both Angelo and Everett nodded.
"I thought you said you were born and raised in Maine," Everett said softly. "Why did you lie to us?"
Brian stopped moving suddenly, his face starting to drain of more color. "Lie...?" he whispered to himself.
"Did you lie to me about your sister and father, Brian?" Paige said, speaking up from behind him. Brian turned around to see the blond girl standing tall and looking at him, distrust in her eyes.
"But you said your father was dead and you didn't have a sister," Everett said. Angelo scowled.
"Drop it, amigo. He's been feeding us lines." Angelo started toward him. "What else you been hiding, new boy?"
Monet and Sean stopped from their mock fight and were now listening, their attentions brought into this conversation.
"Who's this Katharine girl, Cordain?" Everett said softly. He was curious and from everyone else's reactions, he knew they were too. As soon as he said Katharine, Brian almost whimpered, and his faces started to get splotchy. Everett knew he hit a nerve.
There was a near hysterical energy crackling around Brian. He knew he had given himself away now. His reactions towards Jonothon when the young man looked at the picture, or recited the inscription on the back. His reactions towards Paige when the Kentucky native asked about his personal life. His reactions towards Everett and Angelo when they asked him questions. His lies. "She's no one," he gasped out, his voice strangled.
"Ya seem pretty peeved about it ta me, Bri," Jubilee said, speaking up and joining in the fray. Brian was noticeably weakening. Now, instead of an angry young man who seemed to have been using them, almost everyone was realizing that there was something else going on. "Why doncha just let us know? We won't hurt ya."
"It's none of your business," he screamed desperately. Everyone, with the exception of Monet and Jonothon, seemed taken aback by his outburst. "It's nothing of your concern," he said, more scared now than anything.
"Why is that, Brian?" Paige said softly, moving up behind Brian. "Is she someone you care about?" She moved to place her hand on his shoulder and he jerked away before she even came close. He was shuddering now, and not because of the cold.
"She's no one. Just leave it alone," he said weakly, shooting darting glances at everyone. "Just leave it alone," he repeated, even more weakly.
"Ah can't do that, Brian," Paige said. "Ah care about ya as a friend, and ah'm worried about ya." Brian seemed to be close to tears. Everett stepped up to him next to Paige and nodded.
"I just want to be your friend, Brian. I don't care if you lied to me...just please, let us know what's wrong." Brian moaned and seemed to shrink into himself.
"Please, Brian, just tell us what's wrong!"
Danger! Danger! Brian could feel his eyes starting to water up. His limbs were weakening and his head was starting to pound. Thoughts running through his head were animalistic at best; survival...get away...don't stay here. "Just leave me alone," he said, ashamed to hear that his voice was wavering and weak. "Please," he whispered.
Jonothon stood silent in the wings with Angelo and Jubilee, both Monet and Sean Cassidy standing behind him. {This...is not wot I expected,} Jonothon thought slowly.
"Brian, please." Brian seemed to crumple on the ground and Paige and Everett rushed toward him. "What is it? Who's Katharine? Why is she so important?"
"She's my sister," Brian moaned.
