numb

Zero. I was once Aaron Sanders. Now I don't know who I am.

[willaoreilly-blog]

Willa’s grip tightened again, and held this time, despite her best attempts at staying calm. The best she could do was keep the pain illusory, rather than warping and crushing his nerve cells. She hummed an anxious note, “I … am s-sorry. You’re frightening me, you see? I do not think I can help you, because I am unsure what has happened to you.”

[zerotbh-blog1]

“Fuck. Stop that.” Aaron hissed, trying to lash out again, but the pain was too intense and he couldn’t bring himself to conjure up anything. Thank Christ Skye didn’t have this power or Aaron would be defenseless. “I don’t need your help, I need you to stop being a bitch.” He groaned, managing to take a step backwards. “I’m not going to hurt you. I told you, I only need to kill him.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

Willa nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. “I am glad. It is much worse to be uncertain.”

“Maybe he will not stay dead because he should not be dead.” She suggested, tilting her head from side to side in bubbly consideration. Willa hadn’t a clue what he could mean, but supposed trying to dissuade someone from killing someone else couldn’t be a bad thing. “Is Skye really a bad person?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

“Yes. No. He’s-- “ Aaron ran a hand through his hair, angry and confused. Her questions forced him to think and he didn’t like to think about things. Because in reality, Skye hadn’t done anything wrong. But the facility had simply programmed him to believe all he had to care about was killing Skye. Motives didn’t mean a thing. He didn’t even hate Skye, didn’t even want him dead. Hell, he loved Skye. But he had to kill him.

His head started to hurt, so he shook it, as if that would make it go away. Frustration was building up until he hit a fist against the wall he had pushed the girl up against earlier. “He has to die.”

[naveen-kamdar-blog]

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I needed to mop up the floors anyway.” Naveen replied with a shrug. It made him feel a bit hysterical. Aaron apologizing for someone’s blood getting on his wooden floors. What a strange thing to apologize for. “I didn’t have to but I wanted to. It’s just canned soup, it’s not a huge deal.” He tucked a couple of waters from the fridge under his arm.

“No offense, but where else would you go? You can’t really go out in this weather.” The rain was still pouring, loud enough for the both of them to hear it. He placed the bowls and water down on the coffee table in front of them. He wouldn’t reach out and place a hand on Aaron’s back. That felt too intimate for two people that barely knew each other. “What was I suppose to do? Leave you out there in that weather? I still want to know whose blood that was and what the hell happened, but it can wait. I think it’s kind of obvious you’re hungry and exhausted. Just… Relax? I don’t know.”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron let out a sigh. This guy was too much, allowing him to shower at his place, giving him food, letting him sleep under his roof and acting like it was nothing. Of course, he wanted to know Aaron’s story and Aaron didn’t really mind talking about it. It made him a little annoyed to relive his past, sure, but he owed Naveen an explanation for appearing in his life, covered in blood every single time. “Maybe you should have.” He replied, glancing over at the window. The rain was still loud and he was sure that if he closed his eyes it would make him fall asleep within seconds, like he had almost fallen asleep under the warm rain of the shower.

He picked up his bowl of soup, not caring if it was still too hot. He was hungry and exhausted and the pleasant scent of the soup was driving him crazy. He had to get some food in him before he could think about anything else. So he swallowed down a couple spoons full of soup, burning his tongue and throat in the process, though he hardly cared. Once his stomach had calmed down a little and he no longer felt like a starved wolf, he took a breath and tried to piece his words together. “Do you want the long or the short version of the story?”

[willaoreilly-blog]

“All right. I’ll believe you, if you say so. I would hope you would know, one way or the other.” Willa said, and tried to relax. She had insulted him, she reasoned, as wave after wave of scared, tense energy racked through her body. “I think you will probably regret it, if you kill someone soon. Aren’t you a bit upset right now?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron clenched his jaw. Maybe he was so angry because he felt like she was right. Some days he did worry he had gone insane, other days he simply didn’t feel anything and had nothing to worry about. “Of course I know.” He spat, trying not to show he was doubting his own sanity right now. “I won’t regret it. I’ve done it before. Many times.” He had killed Skye thousands of times, yet the real Skye always got a hold of him. A charm he couldn’t escape from. “I’m not upset.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

There was a spark somewhere dangerous, pretty starbursts that frightened Willa. Next came something new, a force she couldn’t see shoving her back and as it did, she reacted. Her grip tightened cruelly, posing a considerable threat to the nerves in front of her.

After a moment of staring, wide-eyed at Aaron, Willa swallowed, “Stop. Now, please, because I will not be pushed about.”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron hadn’t expected the shot of pain that went through his body, making him reluctantly release his grip on the girl, who looked far too tiny and innocent to possess such power. Well shit. “I’m not insane.” He said again.

[willaoreilly-blog]

“Oh, I see. You are insane…? That’s all right.” Willa said gently, and tilted her head to one side. “You should probably not kill Skye back. Two wrongs, and all that.”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron glared at her, losing control as invisible arms shot out and pushed the girl up against a nearby wall. “I’m not insane.” He growled. Which was obviously the best way to prove his point. “You don’t get to tell me shit. It’s all I have left.” Skye was all he had left, but he refused to acknowledge that. Even if he’d had many changes to kill his ex-lover and he had never been able to.

[willaoreilly-blog]

“You do not appear to be dead, actually.” Unless she was hallucinating which, of course, was possible. Still, he had a working nervous system, and that was promising.

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron let out a laugh that didn’t hold any real emotion. “Just because I’m breathing doesn’t mean I’m alive. I have nothing except my order to kill him.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

“Oh,” Willa frowned, because she had assumed he was kidding, when he called ‘Skye’ an asshole. Most people didn’t defame someone they knew to some random stranger, did they? Perhaps Skye was particularly dastardly. Willa tried to picture how Aaron had looked when he said what Willa had misinterpreted, trying to differentiate the facial features of someone who was serious, rather than sarcastic. Her picture memory took too many liberties, so that was a useless exercise. “Did he kill your family?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron stared at the girl for a moment, her question actually throwing him off a little. Well, at least she was direct and not hiding what she was wondering. He shook his head, though he had to think about his answer for a moment. His family was probably fine, he didn’t even know their names. For all he knew, they probably forgot about him and were enjoying the money they were given for selling him out to the ASH. “No. He killed me.”

[mccnjinsoul]

“What do you want for breakfast?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron’s stomach growled at the mention of breakfast. “Fuck. Anything.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

“Hmm. I am sorry, I do not know them or where they are. Why are they an asshole?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

“Be glad you don’t know him. He ruined my life.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

“Well, then, who are you looking for?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

“Some asshole named Skye.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

“Yes, you were.” Willa disagreed, tilting her head. His lights were interesting, she noted silently. Bright.

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron raised an eyebrow, looking over the strange girl. “Why does it matter to you? You’re not who I’m looking for.”

[willaoreilly-blog]

“Why are you looking at me, hm?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

“I was scanning the place. I wasn’t specifically looking at you.”

[drake-and-bishop-deactivated201]

He’s covered in blood - half his, half someone else’s. He’s not hurting too much either, just enough to feel like he’s been working out for days, which is a plus if you consider the types of training the Facility usually makes them go through. Drake’s asleep in the back of their shared mind and Bishop can’t even bring himself to be as angry as usual, he’s tired and annoyed, it’s past one in the morning and he’s dragging himself through the streets of downtown New York. Can’t show up at the Club for work like this and yet there isn’t much he can’t do. His left prosthetic is damaged so he’s limping as well - and of course, his bosses don’t care. All they want and care about is dead mutants and he’s a tool in that, he knows. He knows. It doesn’t help that he’s tired and angry and just, in all, limping through the streets, ignoring the few passerby’s. He’s not a hero and will never be one. “You don’t wanna go there.” He warns sincerely the person who’s walking by, as he staggers away. ASH doesn’t quite discriminate when they’re getting rid of things - human or mutant alike, they just like killing by now. 

[zerotbh-blog1]

Being covered in blood and being in a mood were both things Aaron was way too familiar with. Still, it was surprising to run into someone else who was in that state. Or, well, nearly run into someone, because he spots the limping stranger just in time to stop dead in his track, the cryptic words making him raise a brow in confusion. He only has to shoot a glance in the direction the other has come from to know it’s a chaos, most likely caused by mutants or the ASH. And even though Aaron was fairly confident he was in the clear, or at least not very high on the priority list of ASH patrols, he figured he’d better not take the risk. Instead, he decided to follow the stranger, which wasn’t hard given that the guy seemed hurt. He reached out and grabbed the other’s arm, forcing him to a stop. “Who are you? What happened there?” He asked, though his voice sounded more demanding than polite.

[naveen-kamdar-blog]

Naveen continued to stare at the unopened pack of cigarettes in his hand, as he had been five minutes prior. He hadn’t cracked in a while, in fact he hadn’t smoked in almost five months. He had picked up the habit after losing his family - creating a long seven years of nicotine addiction. Naveen had stopped after one his friends begged him to but the last two weeks had been trying his patience and now he was about to crack. Naveen was ready to cave in but realized he hadn’t even bought a lighter. Great. He let out a loud groan and threw the cigarettes on the ground in frustration. Even worse was that someone had caught his mini tantrum.

“Um, sorry. Bad day at work.” Naveen couldn’t even muster up an apologetic smile, much to his dismay. 

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron had never understood the appeal of cigarettes. They smelled disgusting and he was pretty sure they ruined your health. Although living on the street and hardly ever eating anything was also bad for your health, but that had never been his choice, had it? 

He hadn’t expected to run into Naveen so soon again, either. It was like New York had gotten smaller in the last couple of weeks, because this guy seemed to be everywhere he went. Or perhaps he was starting to pay more attention -- he even caught himself feeling better in the other male’s presence. It was like being around Skye. Or how it used to be to be around Skye, without the murderous instinct.

“Why would you apologize to me about anything?” He asked, stepping closer and dryly looking down at the pack on the ground. “So, you do want to stomp on them as well, or are you just going to let that frustration build up?”

[mccnjinsoul]

Skye smiled as he heard Aaron replied, and after the little psychic push he leaned over the side of the bed, to press his lips on Aaron’s. “You’ve always been a heavy sleeper.”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron was surprised by the slight tingle in his lips he felt when Skye kissed him, though he responded by grabbing a pillow and lazily throwing it towards the other’s head.

[mccnjinsoul]

@zerotbh

“Morning, want some breakfast?”

[zerotbh-blog1]

Aaron groaned. It was too early to be hearing Skye’s voice already. He was tired, sore and not ready to deal with his life just yet. “Fuck off.” He muttered, using a wall of psychic energy to push Skye away, but his power was weak and it was hardly a little shove.