#post-arc

For the first time in three days, Josh peeks his head out his door during the daytime. He knows something happened--the others had been rushing about with nervous excitement--but he doesn’t know exactly what that was, as all the hustle and bustle had prompted him to hole up in his room.

But now the halls are almost eerily quiet and begging for an investigation. So he slips out, creeping past the three empty bedrooms nearest his own and resuming a normal gait upon reaching one of the main halls. He half expects to see Sean or Alex in the kitchen, or to find Luz in one of the studies, but instead he finds the rooms empty. Frowning a little, looking back over his shoulder, he rounds a corner and smacks into Erik, knocking the both of them off kilter for a moment.

     “Oh, sor-- Oh.”

He blinks rapidly, eyes locking onto Erik and arms automatically coming up to steady him when Josh sees the condition he’s in.

Dread carves itself a hole in his chest when Erik shambles into the training room, still looking very much like death. Unfortunately, Janos is used to seeing a certain degree of darkness ringing those familiar eyes, but never before has he seen them in such sharp contrast to such pallid, sickly skin. Unsettled, Janos’ eyes fall briefly to stare at one of the many patches on the padded tumbling floor that separate them.

Janos knows Erik well enough to know what he’s there for, to know that this is far from a social call or a check in. Despite his injuries and all he’d been through--in spite of, even--he’s there to train. To push and overexert himself; to retrain himself to be stronger than before, strong enough to resume the fight.

And while the Brotherhood--and mutants worldwide--need him back in tip-top shape, they cannot afford any further setbacks. Mystique is doing all she can, but the two of them are inarguably stronger together than apart.

Swallowing thickly and preparing himself to disobey what are likely to be direct orders from Magneto, Janos picks the needle off the record he’d been listening to while lifting weights before swiveling his eyes back to Erik.

[ The handprint shaped scar marring the skin over his ribcage still stings daily, like a constant reminder of his carelessness and hubris, but today it's acting up more than usual. Slumped on a bench, curled in on himself rather than sitting tall like he used to, he tries to clear his head.

But he can't get her out of his mind. He sees her--R U I N--in the face of every blonde that passes his way. ]

Shit...

[ Grumbling, he hangs his head for a moment as a stream of women all wearing her face walk by. But when one stops, his breath hitches in his chest.

Adrian Luca has been trained by the best anti-mutant force that has ever had the privilege of serving the non-mutant public. He is strong, he is fast, he is resourceful, but this small woman and all her apparent doppelgängers terrify him for what she can do. And has done. Not just to him.

Wetting his lips and putting on a more confident expression than he thought he could muster in her presence, he looks up. ]

Can't get enough of me, can you?

[ He wonders if she can hear the pounding of his heart; he can hardly hear anything else. ]

What're you gonna do? Prove my point to the public and kill me out here?

[ There's a reason he's been sticking to public places, even if that puts him at risk of being found by her. Or by the Purifiers themselves.

But the thought of that being the last time she might've spoken to him... It's enough to crack some of the ice around her heart, and to suck it up and to go visit him.

Elliot.

[ She's standing off to the side, invisible, but she knows that doesn't mean anything--that he probably felt her sneak in when the nurse left. ]

I know you know I'm here, but humor me. I can't--

[ She hesitates, looking down and nervously pushing her hair back behind her ears. ]