Agent Fox Mulder (i_want_2) wrote in multi_fiction, @ 2008-07-24 09:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | au, due south, het, rated: adult, slash |
Fic: Reflections In Minor 1/2 Due South
Reflections in Minor
By Lopaka Tanu
Fandom: Due South
Rating: Nc-17 for adult situations.
Category: AU, m/m Slash
Warnings: Depression, Angst, Abuse, Rape, Violence, Language, and Character Death.
Beta: None, so be warned.
Status: Complete.
Series/Sequel: None planned.
Couples: Ray K/Renfield Turnbull and Ray K/Benton Fraser
Challenge: 11. Runaways - Was your character a runaway teen once upon a time? If so, what were they running from, or to? Or perhaps your character's soft heart leads them to take in a runaway they find wandering the streets? Now what? Do they convince the runaway to go home? Or find another solution? What's the story?
Archive: Yes, just say where and I will love you forever. Really, I am not a stalker, I just like to visit the kids every once and a while.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Due South, but the story premise is mine. May be some OCs too, but not much else. All rights are reserved by those who own them, and all that good stuff. Ya want some of the ideas, feel free to take them. I love to inspire people, I am a muse too. Now feel special and love me.
Summary: Stanley Raymond Kowalski has not had it easy growing up in the slums of Chicago, but he is a realist, knows there are things that could be a lot worse. His friends are proof of this. As things get worse, he makes a decision and hopes he might be better for it. When he comes home, he finds things are different, and that they were worse than he ever imagined.
Author's Note: Are we all blind to the world? Do we see what we want, if so, what happens if things are worse than we thought?
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"Run Away, Run Away, Run Away to Save Your Life." - 'Runaway' by Real McCoy
Smoke fled over the horizon partially obscuring the setting sun. A cool breeze blew through the parking lot from the great lake causing him to shift the black coat closer. Looking out over the scrawling city as the buildings stood like so many towers attempting to touch the face of god, he wondered if the builders fancied themselves gods. In their own right they might have been, for there was no structure like them on all the Earth.
Gazing out on them, he felt like god himself. Sitting here in judgment of their creations, deeming them worthy or not of his divine light. For a moment he could picture himself the pharaoh over Egypt, the yellow parking block his throne, and the parking lot his palace. All the peoples of this city of glass and concrete his loyal subjects building the mighty monuments to his greatness.
Snorting derisively, he blew the smoke through his nostrils as he stamped out the existence of the flame on his cigarette. "I smite thee mortal in the name of my lord Ra." Chuckling, he put the book he had sitting in his lap back in his bag. The myths of the ancient world could only take him away for so long before reality came back.
Gone was the many worshipers and their offerings, in their place was a cold city alive with traffic and pollution; the god of death now merely a boy in black. People who didn't give a damn populated the once glorious streets of his home. She had once seemed magical, like anything could happen. Then he learned that her magic was very much real and anything did happen. Chicago was not named the windy city for nothing, for nothing could remain static in the great gales.
His life had started out complicated and had only gotten worse from there. She had been his world, she gave him everything. On his seventh birthday she had given him the world. A thick book on the myths of the world; the hopes, dreams, and wishes of all of humanity for untold millennia; or as she called it, the world. "The answers of life are inside this book," she had told him, "if you ever have a question, simply read the book and you will find an answer."
She had died on his seventh birthday, struck down by a car in front of him. They had taken him to live with his father, a man here to so far unknown to him. Through tears, he had read the book from cover to cover. There was no answer, she had lied. Yet, still he kept the book. A hope that she had not, that there was an answer. That and the fact it was all he had left of her.
Something was off with her that day. She had looked different. After ten years, he still did not know what was so different about her that day. An inscription in the book done in eyeliner was his only clue. Something she had quickly written down when he had asked her what changed.
Ray,
One must look with-in, to see the changes with-out. Objects of affection are often hidden with-in plain sight. A hero must learn true wisdom if he is ever to posses the stars of a goddess. Remember, a promise is a promise.
Mine always,
- M.
No matter what he had tried, there was no answer to this riddle.
Shortly after he was brought to live with Daimon Kowalski, he learned that life was never going to be the same. The old bastard, as he was soon dubbed by Ray, never wanted a son and he made sure Ray knew this at every occasion. South side of Chicago was the low rent slums and the catholic neighborhoods. This was their home for the next ten years, a run down building with bad pipes.
Over the next decade, he had formed friendships and relationships with a small group of people. These six kids would be his new world, the pantheon of his gods. Now it was all he had.
On the first day of school in his new home, he learned of the four castes. Nothing was written, but it was an unspoken law among them which was which. There was first those that knew everything and owned everything. They were the rich or middle class kids. Next were the jocks, all little league was a cult to him. Basketball, baseball, and Football were important to these people. The third caste was the general group, those that were the hangers on of the first two or those jealous of them.
The final grouping was made up of six people, those no body wanted. Having attended the same church before school, they had banded together in defense against the others. It was one of these that had first spoken to Ray, and befriended him when the others would not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A quiet, cold morning in November found him crying on the play ground as the other kids sat in class. Ray rubbed a hand under his nose as the other wiped the tears away from his eyes. His snaut covered hand was quickly rubbed on his jeans.
"Ew!"
Turning to glare at the speaker, he was shocked to see a girl from his class. "What do you want? Come ta gloat over tha loser some more?"
With a dark smirk, she sat down beside him, spreading her dress out on the cold grass. "I guess so. You know, if you had some manners, and stopped some of them nasty habits... like rubbing your boogers off on your pants, which, by the way, EW, I might be inclined to treat you like at least a dog. Because everybody knows boys aren't mature enough to be treated as human."
"Yeah, then why don't I just bite ya on tha ass and chase you around the school and growl at ya?" He looked her up and down, his eyes still partially blurry. "Nah, you'd probably enjoy it!"
She sighed as she pulled a plastic bag from her pocket. "What a shame, I thought you might at least to be trained." Pulling out a gummy worm from the bag, she sighed again. "Oh well." Then stuck it in her mouth, sucking it in like noodle. "You know, these gummies aren't quite as tasty as the real thing."
"What would you know about eating worms?"
"Are you kiddin? I have an older brother, and sister. Both of them got their heads shoved so far up their asses, they can't see the sun shine."
This made Ray laugh as she joined him. After a moment, she offered him a worm.
"Like I said, not as good as the real thing, but you gotta start some where."
Ray watched her eat anther worm after offering him one. There was something familiar about her, like he knew her all his life. "You gotta name?"
"Of course."
After a minute, it became apparent that was all she was going to say unless prompted further. So he stuck out his hand. "Name's Ray Kowalski."
She looked at it disdainfully, and then took hold of his wrist. While he watched in shock, she spit on his palm, and used her dress to clean off his hand. When she was sure of her work, she clasped his in hers. "Frannie Vecchio, call me Fraciesca, and I'll kick your balls in your throat."
"Fair enough, don't call me Stanley, and you got yourself a deal." They shook on it, and started to giggle. When he sobered, he looked back at the school, the windows easily lit up from inside in the dim day light. "Why aint you in there with those freaks?"
"What, and miss this stimulating intellectual company out here?"
"Seriously."
"I don't belong with none of them ass kissers. If it aint to one of the adults it is another older kid they are debasing themselves for. Makes me sick just thinking about them." Her eyes were facing the school, but were focused on a distant memor. "Nope, better out here in the cold, skipping being taunted into submission by my brother and sister's flunkies."
"They can't be that bad..."
"You have no idea. Do you have any of your own?"
"None. Mum wouldn't let the old bastard touch her after the first time. She had found out she was pregnant with me, and he got pissed. So she left him. Now I am back with the same son of bitch. I won't let him treat me like that, I wont!"
She placed a calming hand on his leg. "Whoa there silver, don't make me get the club and hit ya like Yosemite Sam."
Looking a bit chargrined, he tried to smile for her. "Sorry, got carried away. Not yer problem."
"You aint the only one with that kinda problem," Frannie mumbled as she looked away.
"'Kay, I get. Now what do we do?"
After looking around, she found what it was she was seeking, and stood. "Now I throw this bag away, and then we blow this popcicle stand."
Ray stood up and hurried to follow her. "Where are we going?"
For a while there was no reply other than giggling. "Tell me more about yourself, Stanley Raymond Kowalski."
"There isn't much to tell, Franciesca Vecchio." He shrugged, hand in his pockets as they walked on. "Seven years old, live with the old bastard for a month cause the city orphanage is too full. He don't want me, but they pay him just enough to make it worth his while. I aint got no other relations. Had a brother, but he got lucky and got a scholarship early. In one of them nice private schools on the other side of the city near the lake. Mum was proud of him, and said so every time he got brought up, and believe me, it happened a lot."
Frannie noted the resentment in his voice. "You aint the only one who got this shit goin on with'em. Don't you think I hear all the 'oh look at how good your sister is on that cheer leading squad, you don't think they let just anybody on that squad, do you? Nope, no sir, you have to be the best, and my girl is the best.' She goes on like she is the best thing since sliced bread. That is when she isn't goin on about her little Raymondo.
"Since pop died a few years ago, he has been actin man of the house. I do somethin wrong, and I get wacked on the ass. Even when I don't, I still get hit. Ma says I probably did somethin wrong and just don't remember or lied about it to her. I mean I know she has to work hard, an' pop's pension don' cover diddly squat, but that don't mean she has an excuse to let it go on. He can do no wrong in her eyes. I am always the trouble maker, and nine times outta ten, a god damned liar! So you aint the only one, not by a long shot."
"Sorry, guess we're in tha same boat."
"We aint the only ones." She started for the gate of the school, and watched for traffic. "Time to show you the place. It isn't much, but we will be here for you if ya need us. Just leave a note in our locker or with one of us."
"I might do that." Ray frowned as she went farther in the city then he had ever been in all his life. They walked down back allies he had never dreamed of, much less even thought existed outside of cheap films. "Tell me more about this hell you came from."
"It isn't exactly hell, but it most definetly is not heaven. In fact, home is all I got, no other family that I know of. Why are you so interested?" She grunted out as they walked through another back ally.
"Just wanting to see how much you got it worse than I do. It might make me feel better. That good enough for you?"
"Fine by me. I might actually find I got it better." Holding up a loose board in a fence across another ally, she watched him go through. "Let's see, I got my older sister, Maria, lazy skuz she is. Probably end up pregnant by the time she is fifteen. As I stated earlier, she is on the pompom squad for the sports teams in the middle school. Now there are bunch of winners or should I say, whiners! Everyone of her friends has the brain of tad pole, and the smell to match.
"Ray is another thing all together, he is on those same sports teams. He is six years older than me, but might as well be the exact opposite. He seems to believe that all things revolve around his ass because he is on the eighth grade varsity squad basket ball squad. Just because he got a growth spurt again, he is now taller than the entire team. He would be captain, except there is another guy better than him, which you will never hear him admit. I sometimes go to his games and root for Zuko just to piss him off." She laughed to herself as Ray looked confused.
"Frankie Zuko is the captain of the basketball team. He is also the team captain for most of the other sports. That which my brother doesn't beat him out of that is. This grudge started when Irene, Frankie's little sister, smiled at Ray a dance two years ago. Now they hate each other. Morons. Anyways, Frankie is a bad ass who thinks he controls the world. Just like Ray. So much for it being just great minds." This time, Ray did join her in laughing. "So what about your family?"
"My brother, lucky shit head he is, I haven't seen him since I was three. Don't know much except how great he is. Mum was the daughter of a middle class family, why she married the old bastard, I have no idea. She was all I had then she got killed while crossing the street on my last birthday. I got sent to live with the old bastard cause the city don't want another brat, and they pay him well enough to keep me around. I get by on what I can, take what I need from the rich kids who are too busy ta notice, that is the best I can hope for."
Frannie stopped in the middle of a deserted street, and grabbed his hand. "Congratulations, you have possibly the crappiest life of the group."
"Gee, thanks, next time, don't mention it." He smiled as she wrapped an arm over his shoulders.
"We are almost there, then you can be amoung those that know your pain, and can match ya."
"Greatness, a whole group of rejects and freaks, can't wait."
Ten minutes later they were on the other side of the neighborhood in an old abandoned parking lot in the middle of what used to be a high class business district seventy years before. Ray took one look at the fence row of trees and weeds blocking it from the street and smirked. "No wonder no one else comes here, they probably think it a junk yard and trash pit."
Frannie sat down on an old parking block next to one of the three brown stones blocking it in. "It was. They sealed it up when they built the brown stone behind me. This place was the parking lot for one of the old speak easies run by capone in the twenties. They let the trees grow so think it became impossible to see through them. The only way to get to this place is to crawl the way we came, that basement window of the abandoned building. City is talking about tearing this place down, but so far it has been all talk. Hopefully it will remain that way."
Ray looked around at the three story buildings and the trees that matched their height as they towered over him The wind barely touched their hiding place, only to leave a cool touch. Windows on all the buildings had been boarded up or sealed off with masonry. Closing his eyes, he spread his arms and turned around in a circle slowly.
"What are you doing?"
"Shhh." When he had completed the circle, he opened his eyes and smiled at her. "It's quiet."
Frannie nodded. "Probably the only place in the city that is."
Ray's face took on a tranquile contenance. "It is like another world, a faiery circle."
"A what? Are you on somethin?"
Frowning at her, he shook his head and pulled his book bag of his shoulder. Ray pulled out a book with a leather cover and opened it to a page marked with a strand. "A Faiery Circle, in the kingdom of the Fey, the Faieries are the guardians of nature. Their circles are said to be sacred places where no mortal can enter with-out invitation and shown the way. Each circle is created around a natural source of magic, a place of great importance and knowledge. It is believed that they create places like this in cities, a dwelling place to escape in the quiet solidtude of their ancestral homes."
"Yep, sounds like this place all right. May be those Irish people might not have been so drunk." She shrugged. "Then again, if we asked Wren or Benton, we might get a polite, but opposite answer."
"Who is Wren and Benton?" Ray looked up from the book to Frannie who was talking over his shoulder.
"Just the older two of the group." Before she could explain more, the sound of boys chatting and giggling filled the only entrance to the small sanctuary. Frannie took one look at the first boy to crawl out of the cubby and groaned. "Oh dear god. What did I do to deserve this?"
"Who is it?"
In answer to Ray's question, three boys of the same stature, and ruffly two years older than him and Frannie came walking over. "What have we here? Frannie brink a new girl to the group?" One with a big nose and almost black hair spoke to them.
Ray snorted at him. "If you are anything to judge by, a pig would be an improvement."
"Is that supposed to be some kinda joke?"
"Some kind." Ray walked boldly up to him, and looked up a little to meet his eyes. "Then again, sad truth really aint all that funny."
"Who is the brave shit, Loui?"
"How the hell shoulda I know, Dewey?"
Ray pulled back, face screwed up in a half grin. He pointed at the only black kid. "Let me guess, Huey?"
"Wanna make somethin of it, sucka?"
"Nuthin, fool. You can cut the macho crap, I know you aint Mr. T."
"You watch the A-Team?" A chorus from the boys as they looked at him in hoperful confusion.
"Yeah, wanna make something of it? Cause I can make somethin of it real quick. You got that?" His words had the three older boys doubled over with laughter.
Frannie groaned as she slapped her forehead. "Take me, god, take me now!"
Turning to look at her, Ray cocked a grin. "What was that for?"
"I am not going to be a party to any more of their bad jokes. If you are going to be the fourth member of their stooges, then I am leaving!"
"Ignore her, she is just jealous that we can be funny." Jack slapped Tom on the shoulder. "Tom here is the master of imitations. Do one for him."
Tom smirked as he hit Jack back. "Fine!" He pressed his top teeth to his lower lip and blew through them. The other two started cracking up.
"Who was that?"
"Oh god." Frannie stood up and put a hand on Ray's shoulder. "Ignore them, they are just being immature."
"But who was it?"
"Not who, but what."
"Butt's right, Frannie," Loui called out as he doubled over again.
"You mean..."
Frannie nodded at Ray's confusion. "He calls it a fart in the wind."
"That's sick! Ya bunch of nasty bastards." Suddenly they went quiet. "What'd I say?"
"The B-word, we don't use it to discribe any one." Frannie was at his shoulder again.
"Yeah, well may be you don't, but I do. The old bastard aint gonna get me to call'em dad. I wished ta hell I was a bastard. With mum gone, I might as well be."
"Wish all ya want, kid, but we already are. Aint got a single family member amoung us." This time it was Loui who spoke. His agressive stance belied his true feelings as he looked away. "My mom left me on the steps of the orphanage. Tom's and Jack's moms were teens, runnaways. Dunno who our pop's were, or who our moms were, don't care. So don't call us bastards. Them damn sisters do enough of that when we go back."
Ray walked over to stand in his line of sight. "Which one ya talkin about?"
"Sisters of Mercy, or as we call them, Twisted Sisters of Mercy, all them nuns are more than generous with their words. Be glad you aint ended up there, bucko."
"Yeah, well how nice for you." Ray smirked at Loui's glare. "What, you expect sympathy from me? Fat chance, ducky!"
"I am gonna pound you into the ground mouth!"
"So now you are threatenin to sit on me, well you are gonna have to catch me first tubby!" He tapped a hand against Gardino's slight paunch then dived out of the way of his reach as the others laughed. After a few chases around the parking lot, Loui gave up.
Frannie stood up and smacked him on the shoulder. "Serves you right, stupid. Why are you here anyways? I know the sisters hate it when you skip school."
All three went quiet for a moment, and it was Tom who broke it. "Wren, he left another note."
A hand flew to her face as Frannie gasped. "Shit, it's Wednesday, I forgot." Sitting back on her block, she paled. "He was wearing black earlier, I forgot all about it."
Ray waited for an explanation, but nothing was forthcoming. "What about it?"
"Are you screwed in the head?"
"Eat shit, Loui! I don't know what is goin on."
"He's knew, Loui." Jack held back Gardino. "It is a custom of ours, when one of us has the shit beat out of us, we wear black to signify not to be touched. Leave a note to let us know to meet the others here to get our minds off it."
"Shit, I didn't know."
"Forget about it, it is okay, now you do." Jack was about to say more, when they heard a painful gasp from the entrance.
Ray's first sight of the boy was of someone who's body didn't fit, like his spirit was to small for the form. How else could he explain the klutz? Wren was dressed in solid black, from his turtle neck to his hightops. This would be the first time Ray would see the custom, but would not be the last, not by a long shot.
The silence that over took the three jokers made Ray shiver. None of them spoke as the boy limped up to them, or when he wenced as he sat on a parking block. Ray stood in the back ground as the others closed ranks around him, taking his book bag and other heavy things. Feeling like he was intruding on them, he turned to leave.
"Where ya going?" A hand settled on his shoulder causing him to turn and face one of the duck brothers, Tom.
Ray shrugged. "I was jus leavin, don' wanna bother ya."
"Aint botherin none here." Another one spoke, Gardino. "Come and sit with us, that is, unless you got better places to be." The sneer was clear in the slightly pitched voice.
"Depends."
"On what," Gardino was in his face.
"If that's your face, or your butt." Hewey and Duey started busted out laughing from their places on the parking blocks as Frannie soothed Loui's nerves. Ray looked to Wren, the boy had a slight smile on his face that disappeared immeadietly when he noticed Ray was looking at him. "You okay?"
"I am fine, thank you for asking, though." He would not meet Ray's eyes as he lied to him.
"Yeah, sure ya are. Who did this to ya, and how come he got away with it?" Silence desended again. "What?"
"We don't ask, Ray." Frannie tried to smile at him, but the sadness was too great. "When one of us wear's black, we don't ask, just be there for him." She tried to will Ray to understand as she put her hand on his shoulder.
Ray shrugged it off as he looked at them disbelieving. "So what, ya just ignore it and hope it goes away."
"It always does."
"Ignoring it doesn't make it right. Just because the bruises are gone doesn't mean it never happened." He tried to make them understand but they turned away, only Frannie still held on.
"No it doesn't, Ray. But we are all we got. The others don't care what happens to us, we learned that a long time ago. So when we get hurt, we simply will it away, and for the most part, it does." Her eyes were misted over as she finished, and Louis held her close to let her cry.
In shock, Ray dropped down on the parking block next to Wren. The other boy was shaking with silent sobs so he pulled him close. As Wren hugged him back, he stroked the older boy's hair. Careful of the bruises, he rubbed circles in his back.
For the next three and a half hours the group explained about themselves.
"Born Renfield Charles Turnbull the Second to former Sister Reagan Flannery and Father Renfield Charles Turnbull, he was the bastard son of a priest." Jack spoke as he bounced a ball. The rhythm keeping in with his angry words. "His mother was cast out of the order and his father was forced to take a sabatical to South America for five years. For the past three and a half years, he has been the mon senior of the same church that runs the orphanage, Our Lady of Mercy and Divine Grace. His father sees him every Wednesday before school to *teach* him his lessons about sinners and their evil ways."
"Seems how he has no other family, we adopted him. Nothing like having a real family to make you appreaciate your friends. At least you can pick and choose them to a degree." Frannie wrapped her arm around Ray's shoulders as she sat next to him and Wren. "For years I have been the youngest and the little sister. I happily pass the torch on to you."
"Yeah, especially the little sister part!" The duck brothers started to cackle and shriek with their laughs.
"Just how old are you bunch of cupcakes?"
"Well let's see, Benton, he is the oldest at thirteen." Frannie sighed, counting off on her fingers. "Then there is Wren at eleven, followed by the duck brothers. Jack is the oldest at, two months after him is Jack, and finally Loui, all nine years old. Then there is me, I turned seven back in may."
"You are younger than me." Ray smirked at her. "I turned seven in February."
"You are the new guy, so that makes you the younger one." She patted him on the head and bounded away sing it at him again to the tune of like a virgin.
Ray had one last question. "Why me? Why tell me all this? I aint nuthin special."
She gave a humoring smile as she came close again to pat his shoulder. "We know that, but we still accept you anyways."
"Yur askin for it, aint ya, Frannie."
She looked him up and down with a huff. "You couldn't harm a fly, half pint." Laughing at his death glare, she ruffled his fuzzy blonde hair and ran off when he tried to hit her.
He gave her one last glare, then waved off the issue as Wren started to whimper from the movement. Ray resumed his stroking and petting until well after Wren had settled down. They sat that way until the other members of the group started to get hungry and bored from all the lame jokes and games. At this time, they started to perk up, the last member of their group was coming.
School had let out a few minutes before, and the sounds of a bicycle with flappers in the spokes could be heard. A head of soft brown hair poking up from an overly large jacket came through the basement entrance. Pale blue eyes locked on to Ray, and never left as the boy walked over to them.
He stuck out his hand to Ray, as he knelt in front of him and Wren. "Are you well, Renfield?"
"Yes, thank you, Benton."
"Would you listen to these two, sound like bunch of old ladies." Loui started mimicing them, but stopped when Jack elbowed him in the ribs.
Benton stood up and turned to face Louis. "It is a couple elderly ladies, and manners are something that will get you farther than sarcasm, Mr. Gardino."
"Ooo, it's Mr. Gardino, now ya got him mad, Loui!" Tom snorted as Loui narrowed his eyes.
"Up yers, Tammy. Sor-ry, Benton."
Nodding, Ben turned away. "That is quite alright, just make sure you get it right next time." He knelt back down in front of Ray and Wren again checking out Wren.
"Are you fer real?"
"I beg your pardon?" Benton lifted an eyebrow.
"Greatness, a freak and a Vulcan." Snorts came from the duck brothers, but they wisely held their tongues.
"I do not believe we have had the pleasure of being introduced." He extended his hand to Ray. "I am Benton Fraser."
"Yeah, well the name fits." Accepting the hand, Ray shook it. "Name's Stanley Raymond Kowalski, call me Stan, and I'll kick ya in the head. So Ray is all ya need, not any of this Mr. Kowalski B.S., that is the old bastard."
Benton rubbed his eyebrow in confusion. "The old..."
"The Old Bastard! Yeah, my pop, the man who donated the swimmers that made me. Other than that, I have no claim over him."
"I see, well nice to meet you, Ray."
"Like wise." Ray motioned for Benton to sit down on the other side of Wren. "So what's yer story?"
"My story?"
"Yeah, why you with this group?"
"Well you see, I first came to Chicago on the trail of my father, he had left me with my..." Groans filled the parking lot as the other four turned away and started to pretend to kill themselves. Ignoring their remarks, Benton continued on unpreturbed. "grand parents. They travel a lot and he had left them with an extra burden. When my mother died, he couldn't handle seeing me as a constant reminder of what he lost, so he left. At first I was hurt that he had abandoned me, but my grand mother took care of me as her own, so for the past six years they have been searching for him on and off.
"They have a home here in Chicago so it was decided that I would be brought here to get an education. Most of the time I am home alone, but have learned self proficientcy and have adapted quite well to my enviroment."
Looks of shock were all around as Benton sat silent for five minutes. Finally Loui walked up to them in aggrivation. "Is that it? No torturing him with the details of the search, the long drawn out tales of all the places you have been, the tales you were told by those innuite?"
"No, I have learned that not everyone is interested in the entire story of my life. So I have cut it down to the bare bone facts in order to minimize the time."
Screams of rage were heard as the duck brothers imitated Yosimite Sam's tempertantrums. "Now he learns!"
"Not four years ago when we met!"
"No, that would be too humane!"
Ray watched their tirade with an expression on whether to shoot or call the men in white. "I see why ya are friends, ye're all freaks."
Frannie was suddenly at his side and smiling. "Well, Ray." She put a hand on his arm. "Confidentially, I AM A WABBIT!" After honking his nose, she hopped away.
Rolling his eyes, Ray muttered an oath under his breath. "What have I gotten myself into?"
Beside him, Wren started to shake his head and speak in a pitched voice. "Oh dear, that was the last Uranium thirty-two exploding space modulator."
Ray looked at Benton's face. Benton shrugged. "C'est L'amour, no?"
Narrowing his eyes, Ray glared at the older boy. "Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin."
"But of co'rse."
"You're disss-spic-able."
Ray had gone home that day to find Daimon waiting for him. He played the message for him about the cutting of school. It was the last time Ray ever skipped class. The following day it was Ray's turn to wear black. It would not be the last time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting there in the parking lot, Ray drowned out the last of the early memories with the rock music. Needing to get out of the funk, he lit up another cigarette, inhailing the smoke with all his being. The feeling of instant relief was what it was all about. Smoking was about the only thing that helped these days. It didn't used to be that way, there was a time when just being alive was good, then he had met the reason why the group were outcasts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray Vecchio was one of the hard assed thirteen yeaar olds that always had a stick up his ass over one thing or another, or so Frannie said. Turns out she was more right than wrong. Being one of the jocks, he had a lot of people who wanted to be his friend. All this attention did nothing bad to his already self inflated ego.
The first encounter between the two Rays was disastorous. It was the following week, Ray Kowalski was sitting on the swings with Frannie discussing what they were going to do when school was out.
"Do you think you can come over?"
"I can't, I have things to do."
"Like what?"
"Just things, okay!"
Frannie looked away. "Bite my head off why don't ya."
"You know what, just forget it. You don't understand." With-out another word, he swung up and jumped from the swing. Running across the play ground, he slammed in to one of the older kids by accident.
"Watch where you are goin, maggot!" The older kid shoved Ray down and started off with his friends.
"Eat me, shit face."
Vecchio stopped and spun on the smaller blonde. "What did you say?"
"I said 'eat me, shit face' what part of that don't you understand?" Ray ducked out of the way of the fist and swung in to the gut of the older boy. "Try that again and I will kick ya in the head." After a quick look over the group, he turned and ran from the shocked kids as Vecchio tried to recover enough to give chase. By the time he did, it was too late, Ray was back in the school.
"Bitch! I'll get you later!"
And he did. Ray had been walking home when Ray Vecchio and three of his friends had jumped him. The fight lasted for fifteen minutes, Kowalski was down at the end of it, but not before the other four had a several damaged body parts and in one case a broken wrist. When it was over, Ray lay beaten and bloody amoung the snow. A few minutes later Benton was at his side helping him to stand. Ray shrugged his helping hands off.
"Please, Ray, let me help."
"Why, so you can go running back to your friends and tell them all 'bout broken lil Stanley Raymond Kowalski?"
"Ray, I would never..."
"Save it Frase, I saw you with them earlier on the playground when I ran in to that shit face."
"I was not with him, he and I barely know each other."
Ray looked at the honest and open face with anger. "Then why were ya with'em Frase?"
"It is a girl, a girl I like."
"One of d'em pomp pomp wanna be's?"
"Yes, Victoria is her name." Benton looked away as a blush crept up over his cheeks. "Oh dear, I think it might be best if we get out of this cold, I seem to be feeling a chill."
"Sure, that must be it." A knowing smirk crossed his lips, but he didn't say anything else. Benton had helped him walk the rest of the way home, but Ray was reluctant to have him help him get up stairs.
"I don't understand, Ray, why can't I help you?"
"It's the old bastard, I don't want him meetin ya, an I got a few things I gotta do before he gets home or I get in a lot of trouble."
Fraser tried again. "Perhaps I can help. It won't take as long if two of us are doing the work. I promise to leave before your father..."
"The old Bastard!"
"Daimon get's home."
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Reluctantly, Ray lead him up the ramshackle stair to the third floor apartment. With a flourish, he threw open the door. "Welcome to my personal hell."
The apartment was tidy, but run down. Walls were browning from age and plaster was cracked every where. Fraser noticed the carpet was threadbare as they walked across the room. Walking to Ray's room, they picked up things like an old news paper and trash depositing them in the trash can next to his door. His bedroom was almost barren of all possesions, only a few writing impliments and some paper to do his home work on the desk was all he had.
Benton felt the sadness of the room, but kept his own council on the subject. "So, what do you need help with?"
"I need to vaccume the living room and clean the kitchen. There's nuthin else to do today." As Ray explained, he changed out of his school clothes and in to a pair of rattied jeans and tee shirt. Walking back in to the living room, he grabbed the vaccume out of the closet near the apartment door. "Which do you wanna do, the living room, or the kitchen?"
Benton took in the height of the smaller boy and the counters and made up his mind. "I'll do the kitchen, you clean up the living room."
"Suit yerself." Ray went about his business as Benton went to clean the kitchen.
As he washed the few dishes, he couldn't help but observe the careful way Ray moved. He knew the younger boy was in pain, but there was no helping him unless he wanted it. Before the last dish was dried and put away, the door to the apartment swung open and in staggered an older looking version of Ray.
"What the hell is goin on 'ere? Who da fuck are you?" Daimon pointed at Benton as the boy put away the last dish.
After drying his hands, he offered one to Daimon. "I am a friend of your son's, my name is..."
"I don't give a fuck who you are. We don' take charity so get the hell out!"
"I was merely..."
Daimon grabbed him by his shirt collar and tossed him out of the apartment, then went back inside and slammed the door shut. Benton had tried to get back in, but the door proved solid, and after a while the screaming died down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray shuddered at the memory. He was glad it wasn't Frannie who had followed him home that day, who knows what might have happened. With a quiet sigh, he finished the cigarette and went back to listening to the music. More memories arose unbidden.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fraser had been the one to keep the group together through thick and thin. He was also the only one that refused to let Ray join them. Though he never said it to him, the others would tell him things about what Fraser would casually observe. No one knew why Fraser didn't want him there, but he didn't let it get in the way of the other members of the group being his friend.
It wasn't until two months after they became friends, that Fraser started to come around. It also was the first time Ray had ever not shown up for a meeting. After school, they met in the parking lot, same as usual, but Ray wasn't there. Fraser asked, "where's Ray," out of curiosity, not care about the boy's well fare.
Frannie, "I dunno, he wasn't in class either. Teach said his dad called him in sick. I'm scared somethin worse might have happened."
"Then he will come or he won't."
"That's it? You were never this much a prick before." Loui stood up to the elder boy.
"What would you like me to do about it, Mr. Gardino?"
"Take the name and shove it, Fraser. I'm fuckin outta here." Loui stormed to the basement entrance and dove through closely followed by the other two duck brothers.
When Benton turned to Frannie, she tossed her hair and joined them in leaving. Wren shrugged and walked away. Benton sat down with a heavy sigh. "All right, I'll go."
He found the Ray sitting on the steps of his building bundled up in a over sized women's coat, tear tracks dried on his face. Not knowing what to do, Benton sat down beside him.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"What tha fuck do you want, aint like you care." Ray turned away to go but stopped when a hand was on his shoulder. "What do you want?"
"I want to help if I can. Will you let me?"
Ray looked at him for a few minutes. He took in the light blue eyes and their offer of geniune concern. "They say the eyes are the window to the soul. I think it's true, but some times they got some venusean blinds over them."
Benton smiled. "They are venetian blinds, and do you think I have some over mine?"
Narrowing his eyes, Ray piereced him with a soul searching look. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you care."
For a moment, Benton considered laughing at the boy, but realized Ray had meant every word of it. He would later confess this and everything about their encounters to him, but for now, he decided to humor the blonde. He stared back at Ray unflinchingly. "I care, Ray."
Ray had been expecting a liar, the same person who had been avoiding him unless absolutely necissary for the past two months. All he saw was another boy, someone who was as lonely as him. Someone that could care if given the chance. Nodding, Ray looked away again. "Fine. The old bastard took a book of mine. A very special book."
"What about this book makes it so special, if I may ask."
"No, you can't, but I will tell you anyways. You see my mom gave me that book the day she died. The old bastard thinks she had some money left over from her inheritence and that the riddle she left me inside it contains the answer. So now the shit has it, and won't give it back until I tells him what I know."
"Well that answers that question, now the next one is what do we do about it?"
"We nothing, I gotta come up with a way to get it back before he gets pissed and burns the damn thing."
Benton wenced as Ray spoke. "That is quite a colorful vocabulary you have there."
"Yeah, well you would to if the old bastard was your father."
"I wish I knew mine." Looking away, Benton tried to hide his feelings.
"Yeah, well if yer dad left a kid like you behind, he aint nothin but a shit. So get over it, he aint here to care about you, but I am."
Fraser looked out over the streets of the run down neighborhood as he swallowed back his emotions. "So, we have to plan a way to get the book back."
"Actually no, we don't. My plan is to wait until he passes out from the drinking, then get it and run like hell." Ray smirked as he with stood the full force of Benton's 'are you dumb or did your mother drop you on your head' glare. "Okay, so it needs work, but I have nothin in the way of smarts on these things."
"It doesn't take being smart, just common sense."
"Great, not only am I stupid, I am too stupid to be common."
"This is going to take a while. Lets start small." He rubbed a thumb over his eyebrow. "Okay, we have to make him think the book is gone. So we don't have to take it and run. We simply await his eventual intoxication to the point of unconsciousness, then we slip in, take the book, and then smuggle it some place safe. Quite simple really."
"Yeah, yer good at that."
"At what?"
"Bein simple."
"Ah, thank you kindly, Ray."
Ray glanced at the older boy who was smiling, feeling satisfied with his genious. "Yer a real freak, ya know that don't you."
Benton nodded and stood next to Ray. "Perhaps, but we freaks stick together. For you see, Ray, you must be one too, why else would we be friends."
"Cause I aint got enough sense not to be."
"That too, I suspect."
For once in his life, things had gone according to plan, thanks in part to the predictability of the old bastard. After he had passed out over the couch, Ray and Benton had snuck in and retrieved the book from the pot on the coffee table. In its stead, they had placed the ashes of an old newpaper.
Rushing down the stairs, they had nearly fallen from the giggles. They did not stop until they had reached the run down apartment building in which Benton's grand parents owned and lived. For it being over a century old, it was in good shape. Being one of the only buildings to survive the fire that nearly leveled Chicago a century before, it was also a sturdy building. His family had owned the property from the time they fought in the civil war and received it as payment.
In the basement, Benton had discovered a hidden room in the foundation of the old house that was originally on the land. Evidence that it was a stop on the underground rail road was colored on the wall in coal etchings. The room was one of the few places Benton let himself be who he truly was, a lonely boy. It was in this room that Ray stored his book.
On the leather cover were three winged figures, each holding a black stone. The names of each were stenciled beneath them, but Ray couldn't make out what it said. So he named them; left was a warm, light brown haired god, Wren; right was the dark brown haired god, Frase; and center was the blonde god, Ray.
"That is not their real names, Ray."
"I don't care, they look like they needed new names, not some sissy names."
"I don't think Eros was a sissy. In fact, he was a god of love, and match making." After a few moments of huffing and glaring. "Sorry, Ray was the god of love and match making."
Ray narrowed his eyes but nodded his ascent. With a sigh, he wrapped the book in wax paper and replaced the lid on the wooden hope chest. Inside the chest were things from all of the kids in the group; a silver ring from Frannie's father's family, six gold arm bands the duck brothers refused to say where they *aquired* them, some coins Wren had collected also from unknown sorces, and a small set of jewelry from Benton's mother. They were the hopes and dreams of the small group, now his too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray smiled at the warm feeling from that memory. There were some good ones amoung the bad, but far too many bad for happy. He needed more good ones. His current crises was just another one of so many.