xp_logs | Alex and Angelo (Reply)

Set Tuesday Afternon, Angelo comes to check upon his former room mate and fills Alex in on a bit of what's happened while he was gone...

As soon as he got out of classes, Angelo headed down to the medlab to see if Alex was up to a visit. He was allowed visitors, it had been announced, so it was worth a try. Arriving at the door of Alex's room, he knocked quietly and waited.

Alex sat up and stretched a bit before calling "Come in!" He placed the book he was reading on the table next to the bed, wondering who had come to see him now, since neither Shiro nor Lorna would bother knocking at this point.

Angelo opened the door and walked in, stopping just inside the room. "Hey, Alex".

Alex bit the inside of lip, not really sure what to say. "Umm..Hey Angelo."

"How's it goin'?" Angelo asked, moving forward and sitting down in one of the chairs near the bed.

Alex could only give him a shrug. "Well, I'm still here if that says anything...guess they still think I'm too mentally fragile to face the mansion again...But then again, they could be right..."

Angelo nodded. "For what it's worth, it's good to see you back."

"Seems to be what I'm hearing these days...It's just taking me a while to process it ya know?" He sat back a bit so his shoulders rested against the wall. "Months in hell will do that to you."

Angelo nodded again, carefully not reacting to the "months in hell" comment. He asked tentatively, "Want to talk about it?"

Alex shook his head. "Not yet...I need to talk to my brother again first..." he made a small gesture to the room. "And get out of here..." Alex nodded to Angelo's arms noticing new bruises and such. "Looks like you've been spending time in here yourself...what happened?"

Angelo grinned wryly. "Which time?" He tapped one of the fading bruises carefully and told Alex, "This was from some trouble in town. Remember the guys who beat up Doug? Them." Pushing his sleeve up further to display the remaining scars from his burns, he added, These were from a raid on the house, just over a month ago. Another raid, I guess I should say..."

Alex winced slightly, the burns reminding him of why Lorna had spent so much time down here..."Another raid?" He managed to get out. "By who?"

Angelo noticed the wince and pushed his sleeve back down hurriedly, cursing inwardly at his own stupidity. "Mr. Wisdom's old bosses, I heard. Didn't like him quittin'."

"Well at least it wasn't against the school itself this time..." Alex had looked away as Angelo rolled down his sleeve, inwardly cursing himself. Trying to hide it, he continued, "Any new recruits I should be warned about?"
Angelo, relieved at the change of subject, thought about that. "Um. Clarice - purple girl, likes glitter an' plaid. Amanda - Mr. Wisdom brought her in, somethin' to do with his sister. Remy - Cajun guy with red an' black eyes. Think that's all - Manuel an' Shinobi got here just before you... left."

He paused, then added, "Oh yeah, an' there's Miles. We brought him back from Mexico. Cute little green kid, Ms. Blaire's adopted him."

Ignores the added "left" and nods slightly. "I remember Miles...Alison brought him in to say hello briefly when she came to talk to me about my..." He mumbles the last word of "accident."

Angelo nodded, letting the reference to the accident pass. "Yeah, he's a good kid. Always real careful about checkin' no-one's too near him who could be hurt by losin' their powers."

"Bet he's handy to have around for mutants like me who don't want anything to do with their powers." Alex sighed softly. "Sometimes Hell offers tempting rewards..." He shook his head. "It's one of the reasons part of me still wishes I was with Her..." He was talking more to himself then Angelo now, looking at his hands.

Angelo frowned, confused. He still wasn't really sure what had happened to Alex. "...Her?"

Alex winced again, realizing Angelo had no idea what he was talking about. "I...I can't say her name...the submissive part of my brain that she manipulated won't let me...plus it hurts too much..." He closed his eyes. "I was a slave to her, nothing...but she also took away the powers I didn't want...I didn't have to worry about hurting people anymore...So I gave up and gave in to her..." He turned his head away, afraid of Angelo's reaction, just as he had been of everyone else's. "I didn't think anyone would care..."

Angelo scowled. "What the hell gave you that idea?" he demanded, forcing anger out of his tone. "Did someone say somethin'?"

Alex was startled at Angelo's sudden change in mood. "It was..." Realizing Lorna blamed herself enough for what happened, he quickly thought of something else, lame but something else, "it was just a combination of a lot of things...the fact that all I've ever done to fix things is run away, the fact that I never really did fit in here to begin with...the fact I'd hurt someone I loved dearly...It was just a lot of things and I was confused....shit, I still am dude." He shook his head again. "If anyone's to blame, it's me..."

Angelo gave it to him straight. "For runnin' away, yeah. You are. But not for hurtin' Lorna. You know that, right? You did all you could, from what I hear."
winged_elf81's status is now "Available" (3/3/2004 5:53 PM)

"I know...I know..." he replied softly.

Angelo looked at him hard. "Do you really? Or are you just sayin' that so I'll shut up?" He sighed. "I've been there, Alex. Twice. Not so bad, true, but I do know what it's like to hurt someone when you're not in control of it."

"Yeah Angelo I know you have, and I'm not denying you that...but at least your control has gotten better. I'm so scared that it will only happen again and I have no idea what to do about it. I was at the point where I would have done, hell did do, anything to just get rid of them..." He shook his head again, between ashamed and just confused. "I'm tired of hurting people...not just Lorna, anyone..."

Angelo nodded sadly. "I know. But really, Alex, this is the best place you could be. If they weren't givin' it their full attention before, they sure as hell will be now, y'know?"

"It may sound selfish, but god I hope your right. It sucks to be afraid of yourself...”

"Not selfish at all", Angelo reassured him quietly. "You got a right to help controllin' this thing - none of it's your fault, after all."

"Yeah, it's just going to take me a while to get it through my thick head, every reminder helps." He sighed softly. "Thanks Angelo...I thought I left behind nothing, but it seems I left more friends then I thought..."

"Yeah, you did", Angelo said bluntly. "Shiro's been buggin' Scott about where you were every day since you've been gone. So no more talk about leavin', okay?"

Alex couldn't help but smile at the mention of Shiro. "You can join him in sitting on me if I ever try again, promise."

Angelo grinned, relieved to see Alex smile. "Might just do that."

Alex nodded, still smiling slightly. "Thought you would."