Castouts (Accepting new characters)

As Max is beginning to lead the way, helping to support Chris, Katarina holds her up on her other side, struggling along with her. She feels weak, almost feverish, and lightheaded with her shock and emotional stress, but she will not stop or let herself give up going until Chris is okay. This is her fault, this is her fault, this is her fault....


"I'm sorry," she tells Chris repeatedly as they guide her as rapidly as they can under the circumstances. "I'm sorry, I'll never make you go anywhere you don't want to again...I'm sorry...."


Her eyes are fixed straight ahead of her, and so she does not notice the figure staggering towards her, yet not seeming yet to see her, for some time. Even when her eyes pass over him, his beaten condition still causes her not to register his identity for several more moments. When Katarina realizes that it is Xander across the street from them, and that he has been beaten badly, to the point he seems to have difficulty walking and possibly seeing, she stops dead, almost dropping the side of Chris that she is supporting. Her tears start yet again, and she lets go of Chris, giving her full weight to Max, and runs to Xander, heedless of any cars crossing as she takes hold of him and hugs him hard. Then, realizing that she might be hurting him, she pulls back and touches him only lightly, crying almost too hard to be understood.


"Xander...Chris, she's hurt. She's shot. We can't take...we can't take her to the hospital, they would...you know...I"m sorry. I'm so sorry. And you, what happened, who did that, are you...Xander, I'm sorry..."
 
(Sorry for the short post. Couldn't think of much for Max to do, especially without other people's consent.)


Max spared no second after Kat's approval of this plan. He slightly regretted leaving Steven behind, but whatever his ability was, the bouncer did not seem likely to die tonight. As Kat and him started lifting Chris into his coupe, Kat let go and ran across the street toward someone. He finished laying the injured girl across the back seat and looked toward Kat. The guy she was with didn't seem so good. In fact, he looked horrible, like he was mauled by alley cats or something. Not wanting to leave Chris alone to meet this fellow, he waited until traffic died down before shouting across the road to Kat.


"Someone you know, Kat? Is he okay? Does he need a ride too?"


(Hm . . . if Calico has muscle and genetics to work with . . . I shall give Max brains and medical knowledge! xD )
 
Katarina barely glances back at Max, then, realizing that he has finished guiding Chris to the car, she nods forcefully, her hands still clutching Xander's arms. "Yes, yes, take him too...he needs help too...oh god, is Kyle okay? Why are you here...where's Kyle...what HAPPENED? Xander is Kyle okay...he's not..."


She can't bring herself to say the word "dead," and her breath catches. Not letting Xander answer her right off, she starts to drag him towards the car too, still crying, still apologizing and shooting off questions to him without hardly allowing either of them room to breathe. Once at the car she piles into the backseat with Chris and pulls Xander in after her, wanting to sit between them both.
 
*Steven is inside for a little bit over 6 minutes quickly dispatching the shooters, then turn his attention to the people, quickly deciding who's to far gone for help and moved the ones that could still be helped towards the doors, knowing full well he should leave right now cause the last thing he needs is to be getting questioned by the police, even tho his carry and conceal permits were legit, he's still and AWOL Marine and if the police knew that, they would have to hold him till the MPs showed up. Body after body he moves like a machine, showing no emotion it's just a job but finally he comes across the waitress that he asked to look out for Chris and Kat, she was shot in the stomach and anyone who knows about gunshot wounds know the stomach shot is the most painful, he pulls off his shirt and covers the wound and applies pressure to it, and as painful as it is he has to shift her over on her side to see if the bullet passed through her. She was lucky it did so there is no chance its rolling around her and doing internal damage and the exit looked like it missed her spine. At the front doors Steven can hear the police breaking down the door. He should run but he won't leave his friend. But she reaches up and grabs his hand.*


Nina: GO! You can't stay here, I'll be fine just go!


*The pain in his eyes is clear as tears start coming down his face*


Steven: I'm sorry I can't get sent back just yet I have to much to do.


Nina: I understand NOW GO!


*Slowly rising to his feet he looks at her one more time before running towards the back door and out, he somehow makes it around the building and to his car without being seen, then it hits him Where the hell does this max guy live?*
 
The black coupe sped down the New York streets without delay and pulled in front of an expensive apartment complex downtown. Carrying Xander, he left Kat to support Chris past the doorman. He made a b-line for the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. It took a while for the doors to finally open up but when they did, Max quickly opened the door to a spacious living room. The room was huge and clean, with white sofas and carpet, a large tv, and a glass wall that provided a view of nighttime New York.


Max told Kat to place Chris on the couch as he did the same with Xander and then disappeared into one of the rooms to look for supplies. He came back with a large first aid kit and a pair of latex gloves. As he started to examine the patients, he pointed to the kitchen area. "There's plenty of food and drinks in the fridge if you want any. I know a lot of stress eaters. Though if you're just hungry, you can help yourself."


He started with Chris first, since he actually knew what was wrong with her. He removed the bullet with a pair of tweezers and after sanitizing the wound, he gave her a few stitches and a large bandage to cover it.


As he turned to Xander, he noticed how banged up this kid actually was. His jaw was a bit off, there was heavy bruising all along his torso and arms, and there were signs of a fractured rib or two. He felt for the broken rib pieces and forced them together (That's going to hurt.). He then placed a few pieces of adhesive tape parallel to the fracture to prevent Xander from ruining Max's work. Max then forced the jaw back into place and put more tape along the joint. The last thing he did was lay a bunch of ice packs along the bruises and took out some pain killers for the boy.


After he was done, Max peeled off the gloves and tossed them into the trash. He flopped onto another couch and sighed in exhaustion. Turning to Kat, he said, "You guys can shower and eat before you go. I think I can give you and Chris some of my mom's things to wear. Xander seems about my size." It was a long night and the three of them probably needed something to forget all that happened. "How do you know this guy anyway? Is he your friend or something?"
 
Xander is stumbling along, trying to find his sisters or even Calico if he's got them, when he notices a crowd around the nightclub, sounds of fighting seem to be coming from the building so he decides maybe that would be where Calico was, and maybe even his sisters.


Then Katarina is heading straight for him and he feels relief fill him at the sight of his twin, alive and unharmed. All he can say as she hugs him, is a murmured, "You're alive." Then he hears her mumbled sobs. Chris has been shot? His eyes widen and he looks at her as she pulls back, "Shot? Calico...did he shoot her?"





He then looks past her to see a guy, a bit older than him maybe, with the perfect fairy tale prince looks, but he can't think about that now, all he can think about is his sisters, Chris shot, Calico's threat. Chris has been shot. He vaguely heard Katarina ask about Kyle, but he couldn't find any words just yet as she helped him into the car, his state was just getting to him and he was finding it hard to see properly. Sh*t. He was so vulnerable right now. He needed to be strong for Chris and Kat yet he couldn't even see himself.


Once he was on the couch in the definitely expensive flat he looked over to Chris, seeing the blood on her shoulder and the wound, he cursed lightly. "Who the hell shot her?" He directed this towards Kat, then once Max had helped both him and Chris, he found himself feeling a bit better, enough to talk properly anyway, so he answered Max's question, looking to him almost supiciously - understandable though, since he didn't know the guy. "I'm Chris's big brother and Katarina's twin." He then looked to Kat, remembering she asked him about Kyle, "Uh, Kyle's fine Kat, he's actually asleep in his bed so we should probably get going as soon as we can."


He cleverly didn't say 'back at the motel' just in case this guy turned out to be a stalker or something, he looked back to Max, "Uh, thanks for helping us. What's your name?" He glanced to Chris nervously; he was clearly worried for his baby sister. "She's gonna be okay, right?" He hated having to ask that, but he cared about his sister and this guy seemed to be the only one here who knew about medical stuff. They should really fix that, if more stuff like this was gonna happen.
 
"My brother," Katarina says hoarsely, when asked how she knows Xander. "My twin...is he going to be okay? Is Chris?"


To Xander, she answers, "That's Max...we were at a, a...rave...and these guys came in and just started shooting, they they'd turned away...I'm sorry, Xander, we won't go back. I'm sorry."


She has eyes only for her siblings, the obvious wealth of Max, as evidenced by his expensive belongings, meaning nothing and remaining primarily unnoticed by her as she watches him work on Chris and Xander. She cannot stand seeing the blood on Chris's back, knowing how she must feel to have to lie on her stomach with her shirt torn mostly off in front of a stranger, her brother, and her sister. She cannot stand to look Xander in the eye and see his misaligned jaw, the heavy bruising and swollen nature of his face, his blackened eye. Sitting a distance from them, she tears at the skin of her fingers until they bleed, fighting the urge to scratch herself raw.


They both look so pathetic, so terrible...and Chris is so quiet...Xander too seems to have little to say. She does hear him tell her that Kyle is okay, but even this brings little relief in the present. And what about Steven? She can't go back there, she can't bring her siblings back to that place...how will she find him? How will she know what happened to him?


When Max offers her clothes and a shower, she jumps at the chance, very much aware of Chris's blood on her hands, but concerned less with getting clean than with needing time to herself, time apart from them...time where she can do what she feels she needs to. In the shower she turns the water to the hottest temperature possible, even though this scalds her skin, and scrubs herself so hard it hurts. She finds herself crying again as she lets the water's high pressure beat into her back and face, thinking of her siblings in the other room. Thinking of Steven. Thinking of Alice too, as much as she tries not to.


In the end, when she finally shuts off the water and steps out of the tub, Katarina emerges with several new, deliberate bruises, scrapes, and one small, hesitant cut, made through a trembling jab of the razor before she pulled her arm back, appalled even by her own standards of this crossing of a previously held line. Her skin is still bright red and hot to the touch as she towels herself off and dresses in Max's mother's clothes, going to rejoin the others, and asks Chris if she wants help before they leave.
 
*Steven is driving around looking for any signs of that Max guy so he can find Kat and check on Chris but he went above and beyond his limit in that last gun fight and he can feel the cost of using his power about to kick in, not able to get back to the motel in time he pulls into an empty parking lot, drives as far in as he can to the sub levels and stops the car, he can't even stand due to the intense pain so he falls out of his car just as it kicks in, painfully the flesh starts to fall away and turn to dust, after what seems like forever he passes out, and his flesh begins to heal slowly over a matter of hours he's back to normal but he's still out cold laying by his car.*
 
The moment they all rushed to help her out, Chris felt herself fade away. It wasn't because of her injury, or at least not entirely because of it. It just felt easier for her if she wasn't all there. Chris tried hard to stop her crying though. When Max lifted her, she wanted to scream. She didn't want to be touched and she hated that this stranger was helping her out. She hated him for no reason really. She really hated herself for letting his happen. She had said she could take care of herself and then she got shot.


She couldn't stop crying.


Chris was silent through it all, barely listening or paying attention to what was going on around her. Her arm pulsed in pain and she tried hard not to cause a scene. She was surprised, but relieved that she was not taken to a hospital. She didn't want to go there. Too many people. Too many questions.


Chris almost completely blacked out. It felt so eerily similar to when she had closed down after the fire. Chris began to cry again, worried that she would go back to that. She didn't want to. As much as she shut herself away, she didn't want to feel like that again. She didn't want to be like that. She wanted to be out there more. Deep down she wanted to involve herself back into society. That was some of the reasons she allowed Kat to talk her into going out.


Once she was fixed up, Chris finally pulled herself out of it, not sure what was actually going on at the moment.


"Kat...?"
 
As Chris calls out to her, Katarina goes to her quickly, after a hesitation, slipping an arm around her and smoothing back Chris's hair from her face. It had killed her to watch her sister crying, to see her pain and confusion, how much she was hurting both physically and emotionally. In her own trauma she had not noticed that Chris seemed to be dissociating, but she is somewhat glad now when Chris calls out to her, showing evidence that she wants her near her.


"I'm here...I was...showering," she almost whispers, her voice hoarse from all her yelling and crying of the day. "It's okay...does it still hurt? I'm sorry...Chris, I'm so, so sorry."


Her voice cracks, and she swallows, her hand stilling on Chris's head. "I'm sorry....we're...we can go now. After you shower, if you want to, or we can just go...Xander? Are you...do you want to go now?"


Her free hand opens and closes without her realizing, flexing as though it simply cannot keep itself still. To Max, she says softly but fervently, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
 
Chris felt a sense of relief when she felt her sister nearby. She was happy actually. At least her siblings were alright or as far as she could tell. She let her power go to get a better sense of her surroundings and was surprised at what came back to her. If she could recall what happened, this was Max's place. Chris was surprised and yet not surprised by how rich he seemed to be.


Chris took comfort in her sister's touch as she regain her thoughts. She was happy she had pulled herself out of that. She didn't want to make things worse. "It's okay Kat," Chris said, moving to embrace her sister. She hated that Kat was upset. She hope she didn't blame herself for what happened. "It hurts but it's more of a dull pain. I'll be alright."


Chris smiled when Kat asked her what she wanted to do. "A shower sounds amazing actually."
 
"Okay," Katarina nods, breathing in slowly but deeply as she attempts to calm herself. "Okay. So...do you need help? I mean...I can help you...if you want."


It occurs to her that she would get pretty wet if she did and didn't remove her clothes, and having freshly hurt herself, she isn't about to remove her clothes or even roll up her sleeves in front of Chris...even though obviously, Chris would not see. It just wouldn't feel...right, somehow. How will she deal with that one if Chris says yes?


"I mean...I can show you where the bathroom is, anyway..." she trails off. "And help if you need...Xander? Do you want a shower?" she turns to her brother, still trying to act and sound very much normal. She is sure that her act of normalcy, however, is paper thin.
 
Jillian stood, getting ready to give the two new boys a tour of the place. It had been a while since he had done so. He and Lionel had arrived nearly at the sane time but Jillian had helped him adjust to the place. He was happy to do the same to the others.


"You can share a room with me and Lionel. It's just us for now. We did have others, but... some of them couldn't put up with Lionel's nightmares. But I know what it's like and he doesn't get them often anymore."


He motioned for them to follow him while he showed them around. The place wasn't that big and didn't have a lot, but it was good to know what was going on. "The bathroom is over here. I think we have another near the entrance as well. This one though has a few showers. It's normally occupied with people so it might be hard to find time to shower, but I know of another place."


He showed them the other places and then turned to them both. "So what do you think?"


 
Nightmares...Julian himself often had nightmares, which were in actuality more like vivid memories. What would they think if he too woke up with nightmares...what might he do or say, what might that reveal about him?


What did Lionel have nightmares about? Surely it was nothing like Julian's...no one was like Julian. He deserved his dreams, but did not know how to experience them without revealing too much, disturbing others. This was probably such a bad idea...and yet he was here. He was not leaving.


Why?


As Jillian led them about their area, showing him and Duck where everything should go, Julian knew that the place was not much, nor was it particularly nice, but rather adequate and clean, providing the necessities. And yet this was more than he'd had in weeks, almost months. It was amazing to have somewhere private to use the bathroom, an actual bed to sleep in. And maybe this was why he was too weak to leave.


He nodded at Jillian, still avoiding her eyes, and tried to smile before he sat on his bed, drawing back his blanket.


"N-nice. Thank you."


([MENTION=1488]xJobozx[/MENTION] post for Xander please so I can time skip to morning? *eyelash bat* Thanks lol)
 
Xander notices as Kat comes back that her skin seems to be a tinge more red than it should be - like she's had a super hot shower, and although he is too concerned with Chris being shot and even trying to ignore the pain of himself, he does have a subtle suspicious that she may have done something to herself, hurt herself maybe. But right now he needs to get them back to the motel. To look after Kyle, to talk to Steven.


Steven. His fists clenched and he looked down. He had seen Steven shoot a man in the head, killed two others and blow up a van. And because of it, because Steven did that and even because Xander covered for him, he got the sh*t beaten out of him. Now his sisters were in danger. Because of Steven. Xander wasn't stupid though, he knew even if he did tell Calico the truth about Steven, tell him Steven did it, he still would have received the same treatment, maybe even worse.


He needed to speak to Steven.


With this thought popping up, he glanced up to Katarina almost distractedly, "Kat, where's Steven? I need to speak to him." He then remembered she had mentioned a shower, and he looked down at his top, which had some blood on it. He was pretty sure it was from his forehead - he could have sworn it was bleeding earlier. When he reached up to touch it, his thoughts were confirmed to feel there was some sort of scarring there, though Max had sorted it out. "Uh yeah." He answered, "I don't mind not having a shower. But I might need to borrow a top." He looked to Max, "Can I?"


Not only did he want to get out of blood stained clothes, he also wanted to be alone for a little while. He wanted to try his power again, even just for a minute or two. If it was powerful enough to shock Calico to the point of him HAVING to let go of Xander. What else could it do?


(I was thinking Chris could have a shower, while Kat and Max talk, they wonder why Xander is taking so long just changing tops and Max goes to see if he's alright, then maybe Max could walk in and see Xander's power? :D 'Cause that would give him a bit of insight to see two siblings both have a power - help him with his research a bit)
 
"I don't mind if you show me where it is Kat," Chris said, a little embarrassed herself about the situation. "But I can handle it myself." Part of saying that was because she'd rather not have Kat helping her and because she wanted to prove she was okay. Her should still hurt, but it wasn't the sharp pain from earlier. By now she was use to it and she just wanted to get clean. "But thank you."


----


"You're welcome," Jillian said, taking a seat nearby. He watched Lionel squirm as if in discomfort, but then settle back down. He frowned for a moment and the looked over at Julian.


"I don't mind helping you guys. It's not easy living a life like this. I didn't choose it and I can be sure you didn't. But you don't have to tell me the reasons why and I am sure you guys don't trust me completely yet. I just don't like to see anyone on the streets. Guess I'm too good for my own sake," Jillian said with a laugh. "But I hope you both find this better than what you were doing before."
 
Katarina bites her lip, her shoulders slumping, and she plays with her sleeve as she answers Xander in a low tone. "I don't know where Steven is...I don't...he ran back in there, and..."


Not continuing any further, she takes Chris by the arm and leads her towards the bathroom, trying hard not to think about Steven. But she can't help but just know, KNOW that he must be hurt, at the very least, maybe even dead. How could she meet a guy like Steven and then lose him in the same day? Was everything she touched jinxed?


Opening the door for Chris and turning on the shower for her, she spies the razor in the corner of the tub and snatches it away quickly, throwing it away before she sees it, though she knows Chris will not know of her own use for it, before guiding her into the bathroom and backing away. "There...all set."


**


Julian nodded slowly, his eyes downcast as he considered Jillian's words. He didn't have to tell her about why he was here...he didn't have to trust her, even. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jillian...it was more that he didn't think Jillian could trust him.


Still...she was so nice, to ask him here, to want him here, to care if he was okay. She was much too nice for him, much too good for him...


And WHY was he thinking about her like that again?!


"Thanks," he said quietly, before laying down. Even if he couldnt' sleep, he would pretend too. There was nothing else he could risk saying.


(can't Max figure out about Xander somehow later? Because...it's been 35 pages about ONE DAY! lol. Can we not just move it on?)
 
*It's a little after 5 am when Steven finally wakes up to the bewildered faces of a few commuters dropping off their cars before the head to the subways, he struggles to his feet and jumps in his car, and drives back to the motel hoping Kat and Chris had made it home, the entire time guilt is eating him away, it was his fault all this happened, he convince the two nicest people he's met in a long time to come out with him and they got put in danger, maybe they'd be better off if he left them alone, after all his life was not exactly girlfriend or kid friendly, they'd be safer if he just leaves them alone but first he needed to know they were safe then he can leave them and not let his lifestyle put these kind people in danger anymore.*
 
(Yeah sure, 35 pages? O.o Wowza. Yeah, you can skip right now if it's okay with [MENTION=2001]amdreams[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1872]Legendless[/MENTION]. Nothing else to post for Xander 'till amdreams responds really)
 
(dreams says to skip ahead, so skip I shall)


It was a long remainder of the evening for Katarina, and by its end, she was so physically and emotionally drained it took all her effort to even move. Between checking in constantly with Xander and Chris, repeatedly thanking Max for helping them and lending them their clothes and his shower, and letting him drive them home, she was already stretched thin in her endurance, and all she wanted was to go to sleep and try her hardest to not think about anything at all. But once she was dropped off at the motel, there was Steven, waiting for them, looking obviously exhausted and injured as well, and Katarina’s anxiety and distress mingled with her relief of his survival hit the roof all over again. She had hugged him and questioned him and cried all over again, and it was very late by the time she straggled off to bed, having to check on everyone, including Kyle, one more time before doing so. The motel room was freezing, and she had curled up in bed, tossing and turning most of the night, worrying that Xander wasn’t going to be able to eat the next day, that Chris wasn’t going to be able to sleep comfortably, that the gang would come after them, that Steven would lose his job…in the end, she was too anxious and keyed up to sleep much at all, and when the morning light streamed through their window shades, she felt so tired she physically ached.


Though she was awake, she didn’t move out of bed to get breakfast like she normally would, nor to wash up. She had washed the night before, and she was not hungry in the slightest…not only that, she knew what would happen if she saw either of her brothers today. Kyle would want to know what had happened last night, Xander would probably want to see if she was okay, and talk to her about everything he’d found out about her yesterday. Neither were something she felt like discussing, and so she lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, absently rubbing her finger lightly over her wrist and occasionally flinching when she pressed down too hard.


What would she do with herself today, if she wasn’t going to try to make money? What would any of them do?


**


Rikarah felt much refreshed when she awakened, though still somewhat more physically slow and tired than usual. Yes, she certainly needed to be much more careful about her overextending herself in her abilities, for she had dearly paid for it the night before. It was dangerous to push herself too hard and leave herself so vulnerable after.


As she dressed for work, using a bottle of water to brush her teeth and wash her face, she thought of the night before, of the man in the zoo, and knew that when work concluded this afternoon, she would have to find him. Not only was it unsafe and unsatisfactory to allow him to roam free, but it was also dangerous for her, for he would certainly kill her if he saw her again. She thought also of her conversation with Natalia, of what the other girl had seen inside her mind, and she knew that she must now be much more careful around her as well. She could not afford for her to see any more of her thoughts, she must not be so careless of her shields. And that conversation that Natalia wanted? It either had to not happen, or must be within her control.


As she exits her dressing room bedroom, she looks about her in the hall, checking to see if any others are about.


**


The tension hung so heavily in the air that Julian found it difficult to draw breath. The others were quiet, still with the anticipation of what was to come, what it was that they would do…what it was they must do.


There had been preparation before now, of course; this day had not occurred in a sudden nature. It was the very slowness, the gradual nature of things, that had led them all to stand here today, as they would not have dared dream to only a few weeks before. Even now Julian could hardly believe it…even now, this moment in time seemed nearly unreal, almost a dream.


The others' breath came as unevenly as his own, their shoulders stiff, their postures unnaturally rigid and alert. Julian swallowed repeatedly, his eyes darting about without catching the others' gazes for more than a split second at a time. He did not look at the figure they circled in a tight cluster; none of them did. To do so would break their will down even farther, and then…then, they might be unable to go through with it. They might be unable to obey.


No one knew what might happen then. No one wanted to consider.


Julian tried not to look too closely at the others, to see the way Emily was unconsciously chewing her lower lip, the way Melody's cheek muscles twitched every few moments, the way Ben had broken out in a cold sweat, so heavily that bitter-smelling stains emerged on the front and back of his shirt and in his underarms. And Abbie…Abbie was shaking, shaking so much that her teeth clicked together, her face so drained of color that Julian was distantly surprised that she was still able to stand up.


Abbie was the youngest of the others, only seven years old, but it was not the reason she had always shown the most fear. Any of them would be as terrified as she, if not considerably more so, if they, like Abbie, were HER younger sibling.


One child alone remained calm, composed, confident. One child alone did not fidget, clear her throat, or avoid meeting the others' eyes, but rather looked at each directly, the clear blue of her gaze open and friendly at a glance, even as a savage amusement twisted her smile and excited eagerness glittered in her eyes. She alone held no reservations, harbored no fear. But then, she never did.


Julian had found this to be exhilarating at first, fun…he had seen her lack of fear as an excellent characteristic to make an exciting new friend, a friend who opened him up to possibilities he had never imagined. But silly games and pranks had become more intense, more destructive, more alarming in nature, and now…now here he was, and he could not back out. He could not say no.


No matter how much he wanted to.


She spoke to them as a group, but her eyes landed on each of them in turn, holding their gaze long enough so each reacted with a shudder, small twitch, or swallow, unable to tear their eyes away from even the briefest of glances of the small blonde who stood at their head.


"It's time. Remember, don't go too fast. You don't want it over with too fast…it's hardly worth it when there isn't much time to watch."


The others were silent, or perhaps silent was not accurate; they did not speak, but Julian could hear his heartbeat mingling in erratic sympathy with theirs, thudding in their chests in screaming protests. He could still hear their heightened breathing, the shuddery sobbing quality that Abbie's carried, could still hear the faint rustle of clothing as they shifted their weight…and the muffled whimpers of the figure at their feet.


No, it was silent, simply because no one spoke.


She grew impatient soon, and her blue eyes narrowed, her voice dropping dangerously as she addressed them again.


"I said that it's time. Why aren't you moving? This is what we're doing. This is what we have to do. What YOU have to do. Why don't you say anything? Why aren't you DOING it?"


**


Julian awakened with a short scream rising to his lips, bolting upright in his bed. For several moments he was unaware of anything around him, still seeing the children circled near, the grass at his feet, the small child before him…the small child he was expected to harm. The child he was expected to kill.


He saw Madison, her cruel smile, her narrowed eyes, and he trembled uncontrollably, unable to catch his breath.


Gradually he became more oriented to his surroundings, his breathing slowing slightly, and though his heart still raced out of control in his chest, he was able through repeated swallowing to be reasonably sure he would not vomit. Though he could now see and remember where he was, the images of Madison, of the park and the other children, his old friends, would not leave his mind.


She could follow him no matter where he went. She would always be with him…hadn’t she always said that? Hadn’t she always said he would never be free of her, that she would always be with him?


He looked deliberately to the others in the room, drinking in their faces, as though to reassure himself of their physical reality. Duck…Jillian…Lionel…his new peers. Maybe, maybe his new friends.


No…NO. To think that was more than dangerous, it was wrong. His very nightmares should tell him that…how wrong was it, to think that someone like him could ever have a friend again, let alone with them?


Taking a deep breath, still sitting up, Julian closed his eyes, but he would not sleep. It was much too dangerous.
 
Max spent most of the night trying to find out the identities of the dominoes he met at the rave. Steven was a bit of a lost cause since he only got a first name. But the siblings were a different story. Not many families have 3 children named Katarina, Xander and Christina. It took a while for him to gt the exact spellings of the girls' names but he found them. The DeSantos family. The more he read, the more interesting it became.


There were two parents and five children: Xander, Katarina, Christina, Kyle and Alice. Hm. Apparently there was a fire in their house recently. Alice, the youngest, was found dead among the ashes and the other siblings were missing. An interesting fact was that firefighters and other inspectors could not find out what had started the fire. There were no electrical issues, extreme flammable material, accelerants(sp) or even lit matches found in the house. There was another domino, fire starter, among these siblings. It probably wasn't Chris since her scars seemed to be from a fire. If it was her, she wouldn't have been burned like that.


Still, four siblings. This meant that he finally stumbled upon a huge research opportunity. Max got up and fell onto his bed. He was exhausted from staying up all night. After a short nap, he'd have to go out and find the DeSantos again.


*****


Cas had woken up before Shira. It took him a while to fully wake up though. He had dreamt of his family last night: his strict but caring father, his carefree and smiling mother and his little sister. He felt a few tears roll down his face. He missed them so much. But he couldn't go back to them, not when he had Shira to depend on him.


Still half asleep, he didn't bother wiping his face and left the dressing room for the bathroom. From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure. A bit in a daze, he didn't recognize this figure as Rikarah and thus someone he should watch out for. He sluggishly raised his hand in greeting and muttered a "Mornin'." It took a few seconds of staring but Cas eventually snapped awake and hastily wiped the tears from his face.


His defenses were back up and he stared at the fairy-like girl. He still felt something off about her. "You're heading off to work?"
 
Jillian, having grown accustom to Lionel's cries of distress, woke up. He looked over at the sleeping boy and frowned. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully and Jillian blinked in confusion, wondering, if not Lionel, what had brought him out of his sleep.


His question was answered when he looked to see Julian awake or seemed to be awake. His eyes were shut at the moment, but he was sitting up. So unless he slept really weird, Jillian assumed he was the one who had screamed and brought Jillian out of his own sleep. He didn't mind really. He rarely dreamed himself and his own dreams were not important. Sure his old life left scars, but Jillian actually found he had grown more comfortable with this life than his old one. He had no pressure to be someone someone else wanted like his parents. Not torn between them no longer. Sure he wish he had money, a real place, a better education, but Jillian was happy with his life for now. His only regret was that he had never really had peace with his parents and their expectations nor truly understand himself.


Jillian quietly moved from his bed and sat down next to Julian, not touching him and not speaking for a while. He just sat there, watching Julian with a silent patience. "You don't have to talk about it," Jillian said after a while.


----


Liselle woke up. She had trouble sleeping before. Julian and Duck had disappeared from the park. Sure she had heard that they played once and then left. She was sure they would be okay, but she felt worried all the same. The lost of her brother made her protective over the younger boys in the park. She didn't want to see anyone get hurt again.


She sighed deeply and then yawned, looking to see if she could find any news of where the two might have gone. She heard someone else mention seeing them with an Asian boy, a boy with gray hair and a pink haired girl, so she assumed (if it was true) that finding them or their aquitences might not be that hard if she tried hard enough. She made her way out onto the streets, humming to herself and trying to see if she could find anyone she might get information from. She also remembered she had work as well.


----


Chris did not have the best night. The only thing that made her night not suck as much as she thought it would be was Max and her siblings. She was a little annoyed by Kat's and Xander's attention. She was not some weak child, even if she didn't react all that well to her shooting and wound. Still it touched her to see how much her siblings cared. Were they like this after the fire? Chris didn't remember much of the months she had shut down. She moved her head to face the direction she knew her sister's bed to be at. How hard was it for them to take care of her and Xavior and themselves? Especially because she had shut down? Maybe she should be more thankful to her older siblings...


Chris smiled a little though at the memory of last night. Besides her siblings, Max was very nice to her. He had been nice since they ahd met and Chris could only wondered why someone like him even cared. He had also given her his number which had made Chris laugh. She had no way of properly using a phone, but she promised she'd try. She did want to see him again, if only to apologize for bleeding on his couch and making a mess of his bathroom.


She sat up. "Kat? Are you awake?"
 
Rikarah's head turned to face the voice calling out to her as Cas spoke, and she shifted to face him, giving him a slight smile and nodding a greeting. "Good morning, Castiel."


Looking into his face, she sees remnants of what looks like tears on his cheeks wonders briefly but without intense desire to know what it is that has already upset him. Nightmares? Or had he slept at all? He looks ill rested to her. "Yes, I am going to work. I have told Shira I will bring back food, afterward, before I leave out again." She pauses, then adds with a tilt of her head, "Are you quite all right, Castiel?"


**


Julian had not realized that anyone else was awake, let alone that he was being watched. At the sound of Jillian's voice, his head jerked over towards her, and then he quickly looked down at his blanket, gripping it tightly in his fists. How much had she seen...what had she heard? What must she think of him now, looking so strange, so weak?


He was strange, and weak, of course...but for Jillian to think so...


"S-sorry," he stammered, biting his lip. "I d-didn't mean to wake you up. Sorry."


**


Katarina turned her head quickly, realizing then that Christina was sitting up, looking in her direction. Although she knows Chris can't see her, she flushes, guiltily sitting up as well and folding her hands in her lap, then almost immediately after running her fingers through her hair nervously. Somehow, this morning after a day that had gone so wrong seems especially hard for her. She is not sure how Chris will be with her, or how she should be with Chris. Or with anyone, for that matter. Was Kyle still angry? Was Xander? Was SHE, after Xander had been hurt, even if he had hurt her too?


"Hey," she says back, uncertain. "Yeah."
 
Xander had actually, despite all that had happened that day, had fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, barely recognizing Kyle's curled up form in bed. He slept like a rock throughout the whole night, not even stirring once, and when he finally awoke in the morning as the light hit his face, he remained motionless, opening his eyes. It only now hit him that soon Kyle would be waking up, and he would go over to see why Xander hadn't gotten out of bed yet, and then see his bashed up face, his cut forehead, his black eye and god knows what else was off about his appearance, oh yeah, pretty sure he had a bruised chin aswell.


His body still ached, but not as badly as it did yesterday, and to avoid immediate confrontation from Kyle, Xander managed to push himself out of bed, the cold barely bothering him enough to give a second thought to as his body protested lightly at the sudden movement. He grabbed his black hoodie and pulled it over himself as he left the room, pulling his hood up over his face.


His mind wandered as he headed to the storage room, he wasn't thinking about anything to do with Katarina or what he found out about her last night, no. His mind wasn't even on Chris's shooting. He was thinking about Steven, the way he saw him shoot a man through the head, replaying the explosion and crash of the van in his mind again and again, knowing Steven caused that. Then Calico. Calico had almost beat him to death, what would he do if he found out Xander was lying? That he did know who blew up the van and killed his men? He'd hurt his sisters. And that couldn't be allowed. Not ever.


He absent-mindedly grabbed a box of cheerios and some juice, knowing the siblings would just grab handfuls of cereal from the box and he was sure what with the atmosphere today that no-one would complain of the food they had. Kyle would be asking too many questions about his face, about Chris's shoulder, Kat, Kat would probably be beating herself up mentally, probably scratching away at her wrist, and Chris. Oh damn he hoped that Chris wouldn't turn back into how she was after the fire. It was like she wasn't even there most times, occasionally answering questions with a one word answer, always looking away, drifting away in her own world. You couldn't get even a sentence out of that girl back then, let alone a smile. He couldn't handle having that Chris back again.


Rather than heading back to his room to wake Kyle up, to tell him they were having breakfast in the girls' room, he headed straight to Kat and Chris's room first. Knocking on the door lightly before entering, he cast his eyes over to Chris, to check she was okay before looking to Kat, "Hey Kat, I got some breakfast. I haven't woke Kyle up though yet. I um..." He looked down, he hadn't actually seen his own injuries yet, not really wanting to, but he had seen the others' reaction to it, it didn't seem good. "I have no idea how we're going to explain to him what happened." Come to think of it, Xander hadn't even explained to Kat what had happened - not that he was going to tell her the truth.


---------------------------


Natalia woke up to the sound of voices nearby, she lay for a moment, almost frozen before she remembered they were in the abandoned theatre, and others were likely to be around, and that was the voice of Rikarah from a little while away. She slowly shifted herself out from underneath Terabithia's arms and stood up, deciding she'd grab some food for herself and Terabithia - having put some food in the 'food room' yesterday - and then bring it back to their room before the girl woke up.


After running her fingers through her hair, she emerged from the room, spotting Rikarah and Castiel just down the hallway, she caught Rikarah's words about work, storing that fact in her mind, before walking towards then past the pair, not bothering with a hello since they seemed to be having a conversation anyway. Then she heard the light pattering of feet and turned to see Terabithia, hair cutely messed up as she rubbed her eyes tiredly, clutching the coat she was using as a blanket to her chest. "Blue? What'cha doin'?" She muttered sleepily, blinking at Natalia with a bit of confusion. Natalia rolled her eyes lightly, "Go back to bed Abi, I'll be there in a second" Terabithia simply nodded, very obedient when she's tired, and stumbled back to their room. Natalia barely glanced at Castiel and Rikarah before heading into the food room and grabbing a box of cereal.
 
As Xander came in, Katarina's eyes flew down to her arms, and she was relieved to see that her sleeves fully covered her skin. Not that it mattered...Xander knew, but still, it just felt wrong, shameful, embarrassing for him to see. Maybe if he didn't, he would simply forget and never mention it again.


Ha. Fat chance.


As he came in, passing out the food, Katarina looked at his face, flinching at the damage wreaked across its surface. Instinctively she reached out, touching his cheek, then immediately withdrew her hand, shuddering. Somehow his damage, and Chris's, was much harder for her to see than her own.


"You haven't explained to US yet," she reminds him. "What happened, Xander?"


**


Rikarah glanced at Natalia as she walked back, glad that she was wearing her waitress uniform. It was like a sign telling her that now was not a good time to talk. Nor was it ever, in Rikarah's opinion, but her need to leave for work should ward her off for now.


"Good morning," she addressed her, but that was it.
 
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