[ussbansheec] "A Little Push in the Right Direction"
- From: "Moria McEntire" <bansheec@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 22:10:59 -0400
"A Little Push in the Right Direction"
William Worthington, Warren Worthington, Alexandria Munroe, Emma Frost
Mirror eyes stared blankly at his father before he shrugged one wing and
brushed past. If not for the eyes and a slight feathering of his own hair,
William would have been the exact copy of Warren. Physically, he told
himself. Nothing alike deep inside. "I'm going out, tell mom I'm not sure
when I'll be back."
"Don't walk away from me." Warren warned as he followed his son through the
penthouse. "You've no time to go out and do whatever it is you do out in the
city."
"Really?" William snorted as he sauntered out onto the rooftop garden. He
stretched out his wings and smiled at the release. "Do tell me what's so
very important that even the great Warren Worthington the Third can't deal
with it? C'mon, if it's so bad, get your X-men buddies to do it for you."
The years old bitterness bubbled up but he didn't want to get into the
excuses from his father yet again. Years in a mine, every day knowing that
the next the X-men or his father would come sailing in to save him. They
never did.
"It's not that I can't handle it." The older man replied as he envied his
son's ability to just unleash his wings freely. "It's a matter of you
learning how to deal with it. Like it or not William you're the Worthington
heir and you need to learn how things are run and you do that by sitting on
meetings like the one this afternoon with Ms. Frost."
"Another boring meeting where I've got to pretend like they matter?" William
shook his head. "Not a chance. Train me tomorrow. Today I feel like
flying. Come join me," he offered, his hand outstretched. "Come on, Dad,
it's a beautiful day."
It was tempting. He hadn't simply let loose and gone flying since he was his
son's age. There was something hardening about taking over the family
industries, something that had slowly turned Warren, to his horror, into his
own father. He looked at his son, wings open to their full span, and then
out into the cloudless blue sky.
"Go on Uncle." A voice from the sliding door chimed. A tall white haired,
dark skinned woman stood there smiling as she leaned against the frame with
her arms crossed. "He's right, it's a beautiful day for flying. I'd have
come here that way myself if Emma didn't have this rule about flying with
the baby."
"You've brought the baby?!" William cheered, mirror eyes suddenly fixed on
his adoptive cousin. "Can I play? Hey, Dad, why don't we fly then come
back and play with the baby?"
Warren looked at the daughter of two of his oldest and dearest friends. His
wings actually itched under his suit jacket and shirt. "Why don't you and
Alexandria go out. I'm sure Emma is waiting." With that he walked past the
woman at the door and into the penthouse.
"Damnit!" William growled, spinning around to hit his hands off the rail at
the edge of the balcony. "He won't give an inch. He wanted it, could you
see, Lexie? He actually wanted to go out flying with me. It's like he
can't stand the thought of being out with me."
"I don't think it's that, William." Alexandria said carefully as she
approached the railing and her cousin. "I did see it. He wants to be up
there with you but there's something keeping him rooted to the ground."
"Yeah his disgust for his only son," William retorted, his mirrored eyes
turning as hard as an eagle's. He let out a high keen that spoke of his
deep frustration and hurt then jumped onto the rail. "Coming?" he called as
he simply dropped from the edge, wings folded back to dive at the sidewalk
below.
Alexandria sighed and then mentally spoke with Emma. ~~The baby is asleep my
love. I'll be back soon.~~ Before her lover could reply bright blue eyes
turned pure white. A soft breeze formed and white hair blew and danced as
Alexandria rose off her feet and over the railing.
An foot before he would have hit the ground, his wings flicked out and he
soared straight up again. Several deep flaps brought him up to where
Alexandria was hovering and he grinned. "Some uplift please?" he asked
sweetly.
A ferial grin lit the windrider's face as she gently aided her cousin in his
flight. She lifted him with ease until he was face to face with the large
sign that marked the remarkable skyscraper as Worthington Towers. Flying up
to hover beside him she asked, "How do you think it would feel to fly with
that on your back?"
"He doesn't have to," William said softly. "He chooses to. He doesn't
really want a successor, he wants someone to tell how great he is and how
strong his father." Lifting one hand, he brushed over his scalp feathers
then dropped it to his side. "He lives ashamed of what he is and worse
ashamed of me because I can't hide like he can. Look at me," he demanded of
Alexandria. "Look at my eyes, what used to be my hair. I have down-like
feathers all over my body now and my hands," he lifted one to show how it
was changing too, growing retractable talons. "Maybe my mutation decided to
learn from your papa, but I want it to stop."
"It doesn't sound like Warren is the one who's ashamed." Alexandria replied
as the winds she was creating kept her aloft. "Your not the only one of us
who has ever had to deal with these kinds of changes. Uncle Hank wasn't
always blue and furry. When my mother first came to the school he looked as
human as she or I."
"No but he was loved and nurtured through most of them," William retorted,
flicking his wings and sending him into a spiraling dive this time. Let me
make a mistake, he prayed silently. But as he neared the ground, once again
his wings snapped out automatically and he was lifted back into relative
safety. "Can't even work out how to die as I should," he murmured to
himself.
"William Worthington don't make me zap you." Alexandria warned as she caught
up with him. "Your not a coward and that would be a coward's way out."
"I lived through hell," he spat, "and that's what I got to come home to: a
cold tower of money and continuous disappointment from a father who couldn't
even bother to find his own son." His strange eyes seemed to almost swirl
as he took a sharp turn and set them a fast pace toward the open water.
It had been a long time since she'd been able to fly this fast and
recklessly and if the moment was different she'd be truly enjoying herself.
"Do you think perhaps it's because of what you went through that makes him
act the way he does, but maybe not for the reasons you may think?"
"Oh?" he called back, abuptly stopping directly over the Statue of Liberty.
"Maybe it's more inconveniece... Damn son who came back?"
Alexandria came to a stop and hovered there her hair dancing around her
shoulders. "Or maybe it's guilt. Maybe he thinks he isn't worth a grain of
salt because he lost you and couldn't find you. Maybe he blames himself for
what happened to you."
William folded his arms across his wide chest and stared at her then grunted
and nodded. "Forty years you'd think he'd be able to damn well admit it,
wouldn't you? Say he's sorry and come spend time with me that doesn't
involve us being in suits." He flapped so he hovered with her, closing his
eyes and letting the salty winds caress his face. "It's so fresh out here.
If he could just... breathe. Just let go..." Just love his son, he thought
sadly.
"Sometimes with men like our fathers a more direct approach is required."
She smiled, allowing herself to enjoy their height and the caress of her
gentle winds. "Personally I tend to favorer blowing mine into large snow
drifts or brick walls. Or simply by telling him he's being an ass."
"You really think Warren Worthington the Third is going to listen to his
rebellious son?" he snorted, shaking his head and making some of his
feathers dance in the breeze. "You try it and see how far it gets you.
I've tried and I'm still out here with a cousin and not my Dad."
Alexandria sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Do you think talking to
the thick headed Wolverine is any easier? That damn Canadian didn't even
come to my Academy graduation. You have to make him listen, William."
"How?!" he demanded. "I've done everything I could. He likes wallowing and
pretending it's all my fault. That way he doesn't have to admit he's weak
like me."
"Shove him over the railing." Alexandria offered with a smirk. "His wings
will do as your's do. They'll snap open. Once you have his attention tell
him how you feel."
A slow smirk mirrored his as his eyes took on the blue of the sea and sky
around them, almost looking like his father's. "Now that has a particular
appeal. Feel like trying it?" he asked innocently.
"A well placed gust of wind and he'll have no choice but to take flight."
Alexandria replied with a chuckle. She could already hear both Emma and her
mother asking her what the hell she'd been thinking.
"Come on then!" he called as he sped off back toward the prison of a tower
he called home. "Race ya!"
Alexandria laughed as she put more force into the winds that carried her.
She'd never admit it but she envied her cousin and uncle. They could fly
without the aide of winds or anything else for that matter. Their flight was
pure and personal. When the tower came into view she could see both Warren
and Emma standing on the rooftop near the railing.
"Enjoying yourself?" Emma asked in a way most people would have thought as
cold.
"Immensity." Alexandria replied as she landed with ease.
William swooped down right in front of his father. "A word with you in
private, Dad," he said before shoving the man hard and pushing him backwards
over the edge of the banister. William took off again before anything could
be said and he spiraled down after his father.
The first thought that Warren had was that his reflexes were rusty, the
second was that his son had lost his mind. Spinning himself into a better
position he released his wings, the action of doing so trashing his jacket
and shirt. He caught an up draft to right himself and flapped his wings hard
until he was balanced.
Once she knew he'd gotten a grip so to speak Alexandria sent a gust of wind
that blew her uncle towards the ocean.
Noting her lover's eyes never reverted back to normal Emma simply stood
there and shook her head.
"Better?" William asked jovially as he caught up with Warren and flapped
lazily.
Warren started at his son in disbelief. "You pushed me over the railing."
"I did," William admitted with a grave nod even if his weird eyes were
dancing.
It took a lot more then it use too to keep the sudden wind from flipping him
head over heels. Had it really been that long since his last flight?
"William what the hell is going on?"
"Admit you're an ass," William suddenly demanded. "Admit that you lost me
and you failed to save me. Admit it, Warren Worthington the Third. Admit
I'm not the failure for once in your damn life."
His son's reply shocked him even more then being pushed over the railing.
"I've near called you a failure, William."
"You've never had to," his son countered. "The look in your eyes when I go
flying or when I accidentally catch you staring at me is enough. Not human
enough for you, am I?"
"I'm not my father." Warren replied with hurt and anger in his eyes. "And if
that's what you think then you don't know me at all."
"You're getting close though," William pushed. "Why didn't you come flying
today? And give me any crap about it being business and I'll dunk you in
the ocean."
Warren opened his mouth to say just that, business, but closed it quickly.
Sea salt was a pain to get out of his feathers. "I just couldn't."
William shoved his father hard. "Why not? What's wrong with me this time?
"There's nothing wrong with you!" Warren pushed back.
"Why are you ashamed of me?" he yelled, shoving even harder.
This time his shove was aided by beat of his wings as Warren again countered
his son's attack. "I'm not ashamed of you William! You're my son!"
William grabbed his father's arms and held onto them as he beat his own
wings hard, forcing them both high into the sky. "Then tell me you're glad
I got home! Admit you need me for more than just carrying on the stupid
business!"
The boy's strength surprised Warren, but then again so did the fact that his
son was no longer a boy. "Of course I'm glad your home!"
"It's been forty years, Dad, and you haven't even said you're sorry,"
William said harshly. "Are you? Do you even care that you lost me and
couldn't find me?"
Warren broke away from his son and beat his wings hard enough to put some
distance between them. "Of course I'm sorry! Losing you, not being able to
find you, are my deepest regrets. I failed you and that will haunt me for
the rest of my life!"
To his horror, it actually stunned William to hear his father admit it. He
kept his eyes on him as he inclined his head and nodded. "Thank you, that's
all I wanted." Raising one hand, he asked, "Come fly with me."
Warren simply nodded his acknowledgement before smiling. "Race you to
Central Park."
"Leave you eating the breeze," William laughed brightly as he instantly shot
off. "Come on, old man, get those rusty old wings working!"
He was going to feel it later on but to fly with his son would be worth it.
Beating his wings as hard as he could Warren gladly took off after his son.
In a decidedly light-hearted moment, William doubled back and started
looping the loop around his slower father. "D'you remember taking me up in
your arms to see over the whole city? D'you remember how angry mom was?" he
laughed.
Warren laughed as well. Page had nearly killed him. "She thought I'd drop
you despite the fact that she herself loved it when I use to take her out."
"Used to?" William asked as he peered as his father from beneath him. "Mom
not like it any more?"
"I wouldn't know." Warren sighed. "I haven't taken her flying since before
we. before I lost you."
That made William stop and for a moment he actually forgot to flap, hovering
then dropping like a stone. "Shit," he muttered as he frantically flapped
to stop from hitting the ground. "Are you... Are you divorcing? Because
of me?"
"It hasn't gotten to that point and if it ever did it wouldn't be because of
you, William." Warren reassured his son. "I've been an ass all the way
around."
"Yeah, you have," William snorted. "Good of you to finally admit it. Now
stop being one and race me!" With that, he shot off again.
Warren laughed, stretched his wings to their full and impressive span, and
took off after his son.
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