ax_main | Warren and Scott, Backdated to October 14

After his confrontation with the Professor, Scott returns to the room. Warren does his best to handle a very broken Summers.

Scott walked back from the Professor's office slowly. It was almost like he was dissociating from his body, and a state he'd not been in since coming to the mansion his first time. He wasn't exactly glad to be experiencing it again. There was too much to process, too much to handle, and ultimately he'd either have to completely shut down, at least temporarily, or he'd have to...actually deal with it.

He'd only ever done the former.

Scott pushed open the door to his room, barely registering Warren over at his desk, and sat heavily on his bed, looking like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

When Scott didn't respond to--or maybe even hear--his greeting, Warren swiveled his stool, wings ruffling with curiosity behind him. When he saw that... look on Scott's face, it was obvious whatever the Professor had said had been... not good. What Scott expected or worse, at least. So Warren tried speaking again. "What did he say? Is it who you thought?"

It took a few seconds to filter through the white noise in Scott's brain, as his brain struggled to cope by compartmentalizing everything and shoving it all away. "It was exactly who I thought," he managed to respond. And now that he knew, what the fuck was he supposed to do with that?

Warren leaned forward, elbows on his thighs. The look on Scott's face... Warren couldn't even begin to fathom what was going on behind those shades. "Who is he, man? Who's the blond kid?"

Scott shook his head 'no.' "I'd just fuck up his life. He doesn't need to know who I am. No one needs to know how I know him," he muttered, mostly to himself. It was a truth he'd been telling himself since he'd woken up and learned Alex had been adopted. It was why he had never looked for him, despite occasionally wanting to. Alex had been better off without Scott tainting his life.

And then the Right had gone and fucked it all up anyway, and shit was it Scott's fault for not trying sooner?

Warren frowned and stood, coming to the bed to settle a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Hey, bro. It's okay. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out. You can tell me."

The hand on his shoulder dragged him out of his mental fog, but also shocked him and Scott jerked away by instinct. He looked up, and was finally able to focus on Warren standing there. He didn't want to talk about it. He also wanted to, desperately. It was driving him crazy, had been. "What we say can never leave the walls of this room."

Holding up both hands in gentle surrender, Warren nodded, feathers rustling. He had an urge to call Simon for a medical opinion, but Scott would shut down like he'd been unplugged if Warren so much as hinted at it. "I swear, man. No one will hear about--whatever you say."

Scott swallowed, and it felt like he was trying to swallow a baseball. "The blond kid. His name is Alex. Summers."

Warren's hands dropped to his sides. "Holy shit."

"Yeah." Scott leaned forward, elbows on his knees and eyes on the ground. It was like he was curling in on himself, presenting a smaller target. "Shit."

Warren blew out a huge sigh. "I had no idea--of course I didn't, what am I even saying. He's--your brother?"

"He is. Was. Don't know. Didn't exactly expect to see him again." Scott said, still in some kind of shock. His voice was bordering on monotonous. He jostled one of his legs for a moment, and then went completely still again.

If he was, he still is... but Warren only thought that instead of saying it. He tucked up his wings as best he could and sat at the foot of the bed so they could drape over the back. "How long has it been?"

"Seven years. More or less." He swallowed.

"I know you're anti discussing the past, but--can you tell me what happened? How you two ended up separated?" Warren asked carefully.

Scott stared at the floor but didn't see it, not really. Instead he saw Nebraska prairie, rising up to meet him way too fast. He clenched his jaw and shook his head, as though to dispel the images. "Plane crash. He got adopted. I didn't."

"Jesus," Warren said with a sigh. This all explained... so much. So very, very much. His wings ruffled and he ran a hand through his hair, thinking for a moment. "And then when you do see him, suddenly and unexpectedly, he's with the Brotherhood. Scott, man. Did... Xavier know?"

"He says he wasn't sure." He'd let Warren take that for what it was worth.

"My white ass, he wasn't." Warren frowned.

Scott's expression remained blank. "Guess it depends on how you define 'sure.' But...we had words."

"This really isn't helping his already shitty credibility..."

Scott couldn't parse through more of the issues with Xavier at the moment. He'd deal with it later, once he'd managed to compartmentalize the immediate problem.

"Do you want to get in touch with him?" Warren asked after a few long moments. "I mean... he should know, right?"

Scott frowned a little in thought, yes and no answers warring in his head for a moment before he conceded, "I don't know."

"Right, yeah, of course--how could you, right now? Sorry, stupid question." Warren shook his head at his own stupidity. "It's gonna take a while to process. I'm assuming you put that part off. Until you were sure."

"Something like that." Scott straightened a bit, jaw still clenched and looking a little like he was steeling himself for an uppercut. Instead, he was trying to push all this away into a mental box so that he could mentally pick at this all later, rather than having to tackle it all at once.

For a long moment, Warren just looked at him, wondering what the hell he could do or say. Then he realized that was idiotic, because what was there to say? "Lemme know if I can do anything, yeah? Up to and including punching Xavier."

"I already teamed him out, though I appreciate the offer," Scott assured him.

Warren gave Scott another pat on the shoulder and returned to his desk stool. "Music?"

Scott nodded silently. After a beat, and several breaths, he said, "Hey. Thanks."

"Welcome." Warren said with a sad but sincere smile. "Any time."