"Anyone who's a great kisser I'm always interested in." Cher
Lilli and Peter spent the next few hours in the gym, letting out their emotions both by venting to each other and assaulting the punching bags. They finally decided to turn in for the night at quarter after three, and as soon as Lilli's head hit the pillow, she was out like a light.
Lilli now looked over at that pillow, wondering if she would ever sleep on it again. It had served her well— it was comfortable and not too hard and not too soft. But it was nothing compared to her usual bed, waiting for her multiple floors above her and most likely being used by some sick Kezing agent. If Lilli actually survived this thing and the Kezing agents were evicted, she would need to deep clean her room and get rid of the agents' stench.
A knock on Lilli's door tore her gaze away from the pillow and onto the door. "Come in!" She called as she went to stand in front of the mirror for perhaps the last time. She sighed at her reflection before looking at the door in the mirror. Ororo had opened it and poked her head through.
"It's time," she said, looking at Lilli with an unreadable expression. Lilli nodded her head in resignation, looking away from Ororo and back at her own reflection. She was getting deja vu from when Ororo would come get her before they'd go up and bring down some of the kids. Lilli wished that was all that they were doing.
Lilli sighed again as she left the mirror. She was doing an unnatural amount of sighing that morning— maybe she shouldn't have stayed up so late. But what did it matter? It's not like she was going to survive the day anyways.
Lilli followed Ororo out of the bedroom, not even bothering to give it a last farewell look. She wasn't feeling dramatic. She was feeling empty. Resigned. And not in the mood to mope over leaving her temporary bedroom.
"Do you remember the plan?" Ororo was asking. It felt like she was speaking from a mile away. Lilli nodded, but it didn't feel real. She felt like a ghost inhabiting her body. Completely dissociated from everything.
"The plan is there is no plan," Lilli found herself replying as she watched her feet. She was just wearing sneakers— she hadn't bothered to put on the uniform. What was the point? She'd rather be buried in her own clothes than some uniform. If they even found her body and she was given a burial.
"Yes. Improvise as you go. Jean will be trying to connect with you, so we will still be in contact," Ororo was saying. Lilli tuned her out. She already knew all of this. She didn't need to her any of it again.
Lilli watched her feet as they kept turning down hallway after hallway. Her white sneakers were dirty. She'd been meaning to clean them, but now she had no time. It didn't matter anyways. The fluorescents reflected in the linoleum floor, and Lilli could see her shadow beneath her. It looked almost like she was gliding. Like she was already a ghost.
"Lilli?" Ororo said, nudging Lilli's arm. She looked up at her best friend.
"What?"
"Are you even listening to me? To the plan?"
Lilli looked back down. "There's no point."
"Hey," Ororo said, stopping. She grabbed Lilli by the shoulders and looked straight at her. "Stop. Do not be like this."
"Like what?"
"Like you are already dead! You will survive this. You will come back home." Ororo tightened her grip on Lilli's shoulders as she stared deeply into her eyes. Lilli looked back at her apathetically. "You and Peter will get Kurt and Warren back here safely. Believe me."
Lilli smiled weakly and pulled away from Ororo. "Yeah, sure. Come on, I'm gonna be late."
Ororo stared at Lilli for a long second before shaking her head and following Lilli to the assembly room.
-
An hour later, Lilli and Peter had snuck out of the Institute and were well on their way to Kezing's hideout. Peter had been cracking jokes and lightening Lilli's mood, for which she was thankful. She didn't want to feel all doom-and-gloom.
"Just imagine the look on their faces," Peter said, "when we open that cell door. We're gonna be holding this over their head for years."
"'Hey, Lilli, can you do the dishes tonight?' Uh, remember that time I saved your life?" Lilli mimicked Kurt's voice with a laugh.
"'Peter, I'm not doing your chores anymore.' Okay, I can call Kezing and make him take you back," Peter said in a deep voice, pretending to be Warren.
Lilli turned to Peter with wide eyes. "You're right! We won't have to ever do chores again!"
Peter grinned at Lilli. "Just imagine everything we can make them do for us. All cause we have to come save their asses."
Lilli smiled, thinking of all the ways she would hold this over Warren's head if they actually survived. She'd been very pessimistic this morning, but Peter was making her feel more hopeful. Maybe, just maybe, she would actually live.
Hah. What a thought.
"Should we turn invisible now?" Peter asked a few moments later, his cheery voice gone and replaced with a solemn one. Lilli looked up; they were just cresting a hill and coming into view of Rochester. Peter was right— they needed to be on their guard. Lilli nodded, taking hold of his hand, the familiar sensation washing over her. She felt a twang of nostalgia hit her— this may be the last time she ever turns invisible. This mutation of hers had once been a source of self-hatred and isolation— but it had brought her to her best friends and second family. It had put her through hell and made her feel the worst she'd ever felt, but it was simultaneously the best thing that had ever happened to her.
"You alright?" Peter asked, pulling Lilli from her thoughts. She turned to his shimmering body and smiled weakly, nodding her head.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah. Tell you what— since you're being so pessimistic, you owe me ten bucks when we get back," Peter said with a grin. Lilli rolled her eyes.
"Bring it on," she replied. Peter laughed, and the two headed into Rochester to their certain doom.
-
"This is it," Peter whispered. They were stood on the sidewalk across from the dark alley that led to Kezing's hideout.
"Yeah. Shit, I hope Cas isn't here," Lilli said, suddenly remembering how he'd told her that he'd known she was there the second she'd crossed through those doors.
Peter turned to her, a questioning look on his face. "He shouldn't be. Why do you think he is?"
Lilli shook her head, staring intently at the alley. "I don't know. We didn't check to see if he was still at the school. I've just got a bad feeling about this."
Peter looked back across the street. He tilted his head, thinking for a second, then shrugged. "Nah. It's twenty bucks now. You pay me an extra five bucks with every ominous comment. And Star Wars reference."
Lilli nodded. She looked over at Peter with a grim look on her face. "Pete. I've been meaning to tell you."
Peter looked over. "What?"
Lilli took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I've wanted to tell you for a while. But now, since we're about to die—"
"Twenty five."
"—Since we're about to die, I feel like I need to say this. Consider it my deathbed confession." Lilli opened up her eyes and smiled a sad smile. "Peter... I am your father."
Peter smiled sarcastically. "Yeah. Nice one. Very funny. If you wanted me to start calling you Magneto, you could've just asked," he looked back at the alley and then down the street. "That's thirty, now."
"I'll make sure my corpse pays yours," Lilli replied, rolling her eyes as she looked back down the street, waiting for a Kezing truck to arrive.
"Thirty five. Oh, look, our taxi to doom is here!"
Lilli turned to Peter with a look of incredulity. "That's five for you! I'm back down to thirty now."
"Shut up. I was only saying it because it's all black," Peter retorted. Lilli looked back down the street at the shiny black pickup heading their way.
"Yeah, for the aesthetic. Hey— shouldn't Jean have like, mind connected us now?" Lilli asked, remembered suddenly that they'd planned to communicate with Jean.
"Guess we're on our own," Peter said as the pickup drew closer. Lilli frowned.
"They're all dead, I bet."
"Aaaaand we're back up to thirty five. Come on, let's go." Peter started heading across the street. Lilli quickly followed, and they reached the alley at the same time as the pickup. It slowed down for a second, allowing Peter and Lilli to soundlessly pull themselves up and into the bed of it.
Lilli laid down on her back, just like she'd done all those months ago with Warren. Except this time, Warren wasn't laying beside her. He wasn't there to make her feel safe and protected. He wasn't there to hold her, to steady her nerves, to tell her that it would be alright. Instead, he was down in a cellar somewhere, struggling to survive, and in desperate need of her. And even though they had some weird, complicated history, Lilli would be damned if she didn't give her life to try and save his.
Lilli settled into the bed of the truck and watched as the sky disappeared, giving way to a low, dirty ceiling. She felt queasy as the pickup drove further and further into Kezing's stupid underground lair.
Unbeknownst to both Peter and Lilli, Cas was there. He'd left before they had to come do some business for his father, who'd stayed at the Institute. Cas was busy at work when he felt Lilli breach his half-mile barrier. He stepped aside from the other Kezing agents for a moment to tune into Lilli's emotions, to try to dissuade her from coming down. But he couldn't. There was a block.
Cas tried even harder— why couldn't he influence her emotions? He still had that mutation: it was his friend Paul's, and he'd just shook hands with Paul the day before. So he had the mutation, but why wasn't it working?
Cas tried a different tactic. He tried calming her nerves, like he'd done a million times before. He turned the mental dial in his head, and could almost feel her muscles relax as she calmed down. Cas felt confusion wash over him. Why could he only change some of her emotions? He went back to the first one, trying to change her mind and make her too scared to come further down. But he couldn't.
It suddenly hit him why.
She was so fixated on coming down to do Lord knows what that her emotions were impossible to manipulate. She literally couldn't be swayed. Cas internally growled— what the hell was she coming down here for?
Cas shoved it to the back of his mind and returned to the other agents. "Where were we?" He asked, trying to forget about Lilli for the moment. He couldn't arouse any suspicion in the other agents— he didn't want to make them think something was up.
"The prisoners," one of the agents replied. Cas looked at him, frowning. His father hadn't mentioned that.
"What prisoners?"
—————
Wow I'm so so so sorry this update is so late! Online school started for me and I have been completely overwhelmed and so it was hard for me to find time to write:( pls forgive me
Butttttttt I'm back!! What do you think is going to happen next? Is Lilli being too pessimistic? Are the X-Men going to save the school? Is Lilli going to go into debt with Peter? Keep reading to find out!
Once again I'm so sorry this update was so late!! I'll try to make the others quicker :(
serbisa