Enrollment [Vi and Willl only]

[Violet Schultz]

Violet gasped as she felt the connection severe, but not before she felt a wealth of emotion emanate from him. Jetting over to the roof, she hurried down to him as quickly as she could. She ignored the disgusting mess in front of him and crouched at his side, forming a solid no-flame zone around them both in case he lost control. Despite this, her attention was on his face. He looked sick, but there was a number of other emotions playing across his face. From what she could tell from what she had seen in his mind, she knew that some memories were rolling through his mind.

She pulled his head around to look into his eyes, her own burning purple as her powers kept the flames from spreading. She pushed her powers harder to extinguish them completely. It was more challenging to control the flames of another pyrokinetic, but she had done it before. And yet all of this was still secondary in her mind.

"Will, stay with me here," she urged, her eyebrows a serious slant. "Focus. Look at me, Will."

Her hands were gentle but firm on his face as she kept him there. His flames could not burn her. The superstrength was still something to consider, but she would deal with that if it became a problem. For now, she had to draw him out of the past and make him focus on the present.

[William Talbot]

Shrieks and cries echoed across his minds landscape as a dark low voice whispered from somewhere beyond reason to him; "You know that I've broken you... You belong to me now..."


Will shuddered even as he felt Violet enter the room, his flames flickering and bursting randomly from his skin, not burning anything else, but still there, flickering just the same, the light in the room tinting from white to blue, to green and back, as if a gel filter was being held up to the window, then switched for another.


Feeling her cancel out his flames was like someone slapping him across the face, or remembering getting slapped, and he shuddered again before he felt her warmth wrap around him, the barrier acting like a blanket to his suddenly fried control and unstable powers as he coughed some and fought to get back to the here and now...


But still, even a the memories faded, he could see their faces, his mother, her pale, soft china doll skin, white and lifeless, her deep blue eyes dull, and full of sorrow. His fathers steel gray eyes hard, angry, yet also sad, even as they lacked any life what so ever, and lastly...

Destny's never-ending wells of blue, scared, empty, dead...



"No..." He said in a small voice as suddenly, his powers flat-lined, buried under a mountain of lucid sorrow and regret, his eyes suddenly filled with tears as he blinked and almost shut down until he felt Violets soft, strong and warm hands hold his face, her fingers around his ears, her palms on his cheeks as her voice reached out and grabbed him, her eyes, dark blue, now glowing with purple flame, as she called to him, and all but ordered him to snap out of it.

"I... Violet?" he paused and sucked in a ragged breath before he looked at her, his eyes locking with hers; "I'm... I'm... I'm here Violet, thanks..."

Slowly William reached his hands up and rested them over hers lightly and gently gave them a pat before he moved to her wrists and nudged her hands away, slowly...

As he nudged her, he took a heartbeat to savor the soft warmth and strength of her hands, and the strange comfort he had found under the blanket of her powers being projected like this, holding him in check, almost reassuringly.

It was a bare and honest moment of vulnerability for him, and while a part of him hated it with a passion, another part of him found it almost strengthening to be somewhat less super than he seemed to be, to be, well, ordinary...

[Violet Schultz]

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Her eyes were visibly concerned, despite Violet's nearly perpetual poker face. The purple faded from her eyes as she lowered the no-flame zone. He seemed in reasonable control of his faculties. There probably wasn't much danger of him setting the room on fire. Besides, if something else happened, she was pretty sure she could stop the flames. The more accustomed to his flames she was, the more easily she could put them out. It was like trying to block a specific wavelength of a radio. She had to identify it first, but then it became easier.

So, it seemed that all of his memories hadn't returned quite yet. Some of them were obviously harder to reconcile with than others.

She didn't know how to help, and it frustrated her. Despite what others usually chose to think about her, and despite what she ever preferred to tell people, she was actually a very caring person. She could never separate herself from the kids she had looked after, and while some might think it was a good thing, she knew that those feelings were part of the reason that she had felt so much pain at the betrayal. For that reason, she tried to hide the depth of her emotions, or even hide the emotions entirely. But even so, she wasn't always successful in that.

The look in her eyes was proof of that.

[William Talbot]

Will blinked again, the tears slowly leaking out, hot and almost steaming as they trailed down his face slowly, his eyes deep, and far off as he tried to come to terms with what he saw, part of him wishing it was all just some sick and sorry dream, but the rest of him knowing, deep in his heart, that it was all as real as life itself, as real as Violet was kneeling in front of him, and it made his stomach churn again, but there really wasn't anything left to heave up so he just sat there looking at Violet, unsure how to answer her.


"I... I'm not sure, I just..." he at last looked away and closed his eyes, an arm coming up to wipe at his face, the back of his forearm moving over his mouth before his palm wiped the trails of salty wet from his cheeks, even as his eyes still spilled drops down them; "I remembered something... Recent and..."

He looked at the mess he had made on the floor and he closed his eyes as he half turned away from Violet and closed his eyes once more, his arms wrapping around himself lightly before he softly whispered; "They're all dead Vi... Everyone I ever loved or who loved me is gone... I couldn't save them, and I should have... I had the power and... I failed..."

There, he said it, and it hurt like a frozen blade slicing into him spilling his guts onto the floor, and it made him feel empty and cold inside.
"I... I feel pretty lost and useless right now." he said with more than a little bitter irony in his voice.

[Violet Schultz]

"Hey," she said gently, touching his shoulder. "You aren't alone any more. I'm truly sorry that it happened to you, but..."

She had to force the next words through a throat that was blocked by a lump which had nothing to do with the acrid stench of the floor. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had told herself this many many times. Their situations weren't exactly the same, but they were similar enough that she had to exercise restraint to keep tears from welling in her own eyes.

"Those people would want you to keep on living, keep moving forward. They wouldn't want you to feel this way."

Her voice was soft but a little rough. She remembered how her parents had perished, and the pain that had followed. She couldn't imagine having the realization hit her as if for the first time again, and she didn't really want to. The pain had been bad enough the first time around. She remembered the blame she had shouldered, and to tell the truth, still shouldered to some extent. She still knew that it had been her fault, but she had told herself what she was telling Blaze, and had been able to keep living because of it.

[William Talbot]

Will licked his lips some and nodded, knowing she was right, his family would have wanted him to keep moving forward, would have expected it, and Destiny...
She would have as well, in fact William knew in his heart that she would have demanded it.

Will looked back up at Violet and gave a tiny half smile as he shifted onto his knees and then reached his hand up to hers and gave a gentle squeeze; "Thanks Violet, for everything..."

He could sense the empathy in her aura, and knew instinctively that it wasn't just simple kindness, but experience that was driving it, and that of course only fueled his interest and curiosity about her, which was already past the naturally high level any normal boy would have for a girl, but then, as they where taking for granted at the moment, neither one of them was very normal.

Will then slowly stood and then held as much blush in check as he could before he spoke directly to her; "I... I think a person should count themselves lucky to know you Vi, I know that I do right about now."

He tilted his head slightly and again gave her a tiny half smirk as he realized that she was his only friend in the world right now, and it somehow tickled his fancy...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet smiled a small smile before withdrawing her hand and standing to go over to the sink. She was glad that someone thought so, but she didn't like the strength of the emotion she was feeling. It scared her, to be honest. It felt too vulnerable for her liking, and she wasn't ready to feel that way. Still, it was nice to have a friend, even if he wanted it to be more than that. She hoped he realized she wasn't ready for something like that, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to be ready. She had emotional wounds that were slow to close and even slower to heal.

Rummaging through the drawers, she located the mop and filled the bucket with soapy water before hauling it over to the mess on the floor. She couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at the smell of the mess. Exhaling deeply through her mouth, she handed over the mop.

"Sorry, but that stuff smells rancid," she said.

Her smile was apologetic. She was also hoping that she could cheer him up a little, but as much as she was his friend, she wasn't quite willing to do this for him. It was just gross. She was aware that he would probably see through this sudden change of subject, but they were already past most of the heavy stuff in the conversation. At some point, they would probably get into her own past, but the subject change showed that the time for that particular conversation wasn't now.

[William Talbot]

William slowly stood and watched her withdraw to the kitchen area, with a tiny, thoughtful smile on his lips before he turned and looked out the window, lost in thought as the echos of emotion from Violet washed over him like soft waves of sound and warmth, the faint undercurrents almost lost in the drifting thoughts of his own mind as he picked through the wreckage left from this small bomb of truth that had suddenly gone off inside...


As he sorted through everything, he also considered the vibes he was picking up from her, and he understood her wariness, of his interest in her, and he being perfectly honest with himself, wasn't fully healed from his own wounds, and with the memories of his past now in such a new, and sad light, he was content with friendship, and occasionally entertaining the thought of more, for the time being.



Looking to the mop and bucket Will chuckled ironically and took them from her; "Hmm, I am a big boy and can clean up after myself ya' know. But then you don't have a super powered nose huh? Thanks for the mop." he wrinkled up his nose and made a face before laughing softly, his eyes still deep and sad, but his face lighter, less upset and more thoughtful as he took the items and started cleaning up his mess, a random tune humming from his throat, her hint having been caught.


Even as he mopped, and despite the slightly awkward awarness he still had about Violet, Will pondered everything about himself, his memories, his powers, who he was really, and how things both did, and didn't make sense, and how could he possibly reconcile it all, but through everything one small thought still nagged and rang through the back of his mind...


"She has such pretty eyes..."