End the Beginning (Jared)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani looked at his hands and he paced down the hallways. He looked up down the hall. How had this place come to feel so small. With graduation right around the corner Lani was honestly starting to feel a little bit of emotion for this place. He looked down the hall, this was where he had run into friends and chatted about nothing before deciding whether or not to go to class. There was the courtyard where he had first had a mud fight with Shapiro and the classroom where he had first met Cassie. He wondered whatever happened to that little girl. There were old memories as he passed the office, security lectures frustrating events, stealing, that time Dalton had bought L.C. and him pizza. He missed them. But there were more recent memories lining the halls. The rooms he had trained with Odion in, the room where he almost took Rhett’s head off. The happy times when he and Adrianna were inseparable.

There was the infirmary where he had stolen his stock of medication. After he graduated he’d have more trouble getting to his pain medication, especially since most of it wasn’t actually prescribed to him. That was also the place where he and Xavier had arrived battered one burned and the other with a broken arm. That had been an interesting day. He laughed a little about it now. He passed the cafeteria where he had gotten detention for a week for bringing the meat to life. Not that he had gone to any of those detentions. There wasn’t much they could do to him now. He was leaving. Gone, one way or another. He didn’t even have a count for how many detentions he had gotten and then how many more he had gotten for missing them. He didn’t really know where he wandered but he stuck his hands in his pockets. He glanced past the classroom where he occasionally went to physics, math, even the Enlish and history classrooms.

He paused and rested against the wall looking up at the ceiling. How many things had changed over the past year. He couldn’t even look back and remember himself back then. He had been a different person. He looked back even further to the thief in Boston. No power, no real friends, no trust, no love. No Odion. He frowned, how many time last year had he wished his power was gone and to have gone back to that life? How many times had he wanted to fly away? And now… well, now it was getting hard to leave and he couldn’t quite place his finger on why. Lani sighed and shook his head. He was being foolish. This was foolish. Memories were memories and new ones were waiting to be made. The bell rang and Lani pushed himself off the wall having had enough of his memory wallowing. He rounded the corner and saw a familiar head. Lani blinked. What was his name? Jared? Lani very nearly retreated and went the other way. He had been such an ass when they had met. But Jared did deserve an apology. Lani bit hi tongue as much as he hated apologizing he had to. “Jared,” he called out grabbing the phaser’s attention. He waded through the throng of people to get to Odion’s friend.

[Jared Bell]

Jared was feeling more than a little free lately, and that meant he actually had time to invest in catching up on all the school work he had overlooked since he started at Hammel. There was nothing tying him here anymore and he found himself wondering where he was going to go next. He didn’t have a reason to leave yet, but for now he would do his best to actually invest time in the relationships he had come here to rekindle. He hadn’t spoken with anyone in the past while, but that was to be expected with the amount of pressure that rested on his shoulders.

He didn’t even remember where half of his classrooms were but it had only taken him half a day of running around the school trying to figure out how many essays he had to turn in to make it through the year. He hadn’t worked on his power enough to graduate, but he had a feeling that nobody would be stopping him if he really wanted to leave. It wasn’t as if he was a danger to himself or anyone else; unless you counted the incident when he tried to teach Odion to drive. He had every intention of finishing this year as strongly as he could.

Jared had just finished one of his last essays when he decided it was time to pack it in for the day. He could only handle so much bullshitting in one day, and he was sure any professor who was any good would realize rather quickly just how little he had actually written if he didn’t stop for the day. He packed his books away in his bag and left the essay on the desk. He walked out of the class and blended in with the rest of the student body as best as he could. He didn’t even notice Lani; at least not until he heard his name called.

He turned slowly and looked for the person who somehow knew him. He hadn’t been discreet with his move into Pilot Ridge, but he didn’t think he had gathered enough attention that complete strangers would know who he was. He turned and looked through the faces until he saw one he thought he recognized. After all the drama in the past little while he had completely forgotten that Boston had ever happened. He made eye contact with Lani and mouthed “You want me?” He nodded his head in the direction of the empty classroom he had just come from. At least they wouldn’t have to deal with trying to talk over the crowd in there.

[Lani Hunter]

It wasn’t a long time now and he’d be free of this place. Well, as free as he could be having to keep returning to practice his power in the relative safety of Hammel. He could almost feel the little bit of fear coming from his trainer. They didn’t think he was ready. No one really did, even Lani didn’t think he was. But it wasn’t like they could keep him in anyways. Lani had to smile, though he still got looks he hadn’t gotten an angry note from security for sneaking out recently. It was as if they had given up because either they had decided they couldn’t keep him from doing so, or they just didn’t care because he was leaving. He wondered if they would party a little bit when they could finally place his overly thick file into the ‘Graduated’ cabinet never to be looked at again. Lani smiled a little at the thought.

He hadn’t been expecting to see anyone worth talking to today. Odion was busy and Adrianna was busy keeping her head screwed on straight and he doubted he would just happen upon any of the younger friends he had made here. He’d probably miss Shapiro the most. She was such a punk, but she was his punk and he loved her. So when he saw Jared he had to admit he was surprised. He almost forgot that Jared actually went to Hammel now. It was a strange thing. Lani still wasn’t sure what they had to talk about other than that Jared was into some trouble and Lani wanted to help. He could say that he was only helping for Odion’s sake but he couldn’t turn his back on Jared. Not just because Lani’s protective drive but because Jared had been one of the people to come rescue his sorry ass the last time he tried to play hero.

He nodded and wadded through the crowd slipping into the classroom ahead of Jared. It was significantly quieter inside the room and Lani walked across the room to examine the writings on the board. Some sort of English class? He wasn’t really sure and he really didn’t care much. Chances were that Lani had a class in here once upon a time and just never bothered to go. Probably last year some time before he clued in that graduation required good grades. Well, in Lani’s case passing ones. He paced around the desk and propped himself up on the far wall by the few windows and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at his feet and then up at Jared deciding if he was going to say something he should probably say it soon before this turned into a terribly awkward staring contest. “I wanted to apologize.” Lani started, pretty sure Jared knew what he was talking about. Looking back Lani was still cringing over what an ass he had made of himself. And not to mention the complete mental melt down he had had in the back of car.

His face turned upward a little and he smiled kindly at Jared. Truth be told now that he had Jared Lani wanted to question him on the status of his crazy person that wanted to kill him. In all honesty it would be a terrible thing if Lani’s boss and the guy Jared had pissed off ended up meeting. Good thing Jared’s crazy guy was in Europe. “Uh…” Lani rubbed his nose absently, “And I wanted to thank you.” Lani realized it was terribly sad that it had taken him so long to get around to giving a thanks and an apology but Lani had a hard time admitting when he was wrong. And when it had been so easy to avoid Jared he hadn’t even had to worry about it too much.

[Jared Bell]

Jared was instantly relieved when Lani got the hint and headed to the classroom ahead of him. He didn’t care so much about the fact that he had just left, but he genuinely wanted to know what Lani could want with him. The last time they had encountered each other Lani had been slightly incapacitated. That didn’t stop Jared from seeing that Odion genuinely cared for him. It wasn’t like Odion to put his neck out for someone he didn’t like. If Odion thought he could be trusted, then Jared would be willing to do just that. He entered the room behind Lani and closed the door. Finding a seat on top of one of the desks he faced Lani and waited to see what was coming. A sly grin crept across his face. He definitely wasn’t used to receiving apologies when someone crossed him. “You know what? The thought of anger hasn’t crossed my mind. I’ve got no problem with you as long as Odion doesn’t. So I suppose that means you can consider your apology accepted.” He said seriously.

Jared was actually out of words for once. He could tell that Lani wasn’t really a bad guy, but more so stuck in a bad situation. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t relate to that. Circumstances could push people to take extraordinary measures. He had always believed that the end justified the means, maybe that’s why he had considered pulling the trigger in Boston. The thing that had stopped him was that he knew that it wasn’t his call to make. Jared was taken aback at the sudden thanks. He shrugged and smiled a little. “I did it for Odi. He’s the only family I have, but you’re welcome.” He said simply. He couldn’t think of a polite way to say that if it hadn’t been Odion asking he wouldn’t have done anything.

He swung his feet back and forth over the side of the desk and looked over at Lani. “So is that all sorted? Or do you want a hand from me to help finish it?” He asked curiously. He wasn’t sure where this was going, but he had gotten involved already. He was finally back to the point where he had something to lose again, but he was willing to give that away to help Odi, and in this case Lani as well. He wasn’t sure how much Lani knew about him, but it wasn’t as if he was secretive about the amount of trouble he had been in. “Also, how much do you know about me?” Jared asked. This was his chance to clear the record. He still hadn’t managed to let Odion know about his escapade. He wasn’t going to tell anyone else before he got the chance to tell Odion.

Jared pushed himself the desk and wandered over towards Lani. “Also we’ve never formally been introduced. I’m Jared Bell, the one man mischief maker.” He said, extending his hand. If he was going to get to know Lani better, he had every intention of getting the formalities out of the way.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani smiled in relief, he had been fighting with so many people lately he was starting to think that he really was a mistake. Anyone he talked to seemed to have gone sour toward him. Save Caroline and Odion. But after what Lani had said he was surprised Odion wasn’t sour as well. Maybe he was and was keeping it well hidden. The thought honestly shook Lani but he shoved it off. It would have been eerie if he had known that Jared and he were sharing a thought. If Odion didn’t like him he wouldn’t be here. He was a little worried. What if he and Odion were having problems. “Well that’s good to hear.” He said with a smile. That hadn’t been as painful as he had thought. Maybe this was a good sign that he could apologize and not have it explode in his face. He felt like a mad scientist trying out this honesty thing like it was a dropper of acid and he never knew if what he dripped it in would explode.

“You know he’s said pretty much the same thing about you,” Lani said giving Jared a smile. He wasn’t sure if Jared wasn’t supposed to know that but Lani was fully ready to deny all blame if it came up in conversation. Lani nodded to himself, he honestly hadn’t expected anything else. It seemed that the redhead connected them. If it weren’t for Odion, Jared wouldn’t have helped Lani and if Odion hadn’t asked Lani wouldn’t want to help Jared. Well maybe he would, but he’d never have known there was a situation. He also wasn’t looking forward to getting a possible homicidal crazy man on his scent. He had enough on his plate. What with Adrianna and his old boss. Lani felt as though he were drowning.

Lani barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Hardly,” his boss was being eerily quiet which was worrying him beyond understanding. Lani shook his head at first then reconsidered. It wasn’t like Jared hadn’t been able to handle himself back there. And he wasn’t going to be stupid about this again. This time when he showed up in Boston it was going to end. It was still hard for Lani to admit he needed help but he had already gone to Dr. Neville and that had failed. “I wouldn’t ask you if you didn’t offer.” He said cryptically. Lani really wasn’t sure how to bring up the topic of Jared’s own problems but the other guy solved that for him. He shrugged. “As much as Odion told me. You’ve got a man on your tail looking for blood.” Lani gave Jared a hard stare, he wasn’t going to let up on Odion secret. First off it wasn’t his place and second he would protect Odion from whatever wrath he feared from his friend until Odion was ready to deal with it.

Lani took the hand and chuckled a little. “Lani Hunter. I don’t have a clever title.” He supposed one could say he was the one man screw up. Or wrecking ball. Neither really struck his fancy. “Odion told me a little bit about what’s going on with you.” He repeated and gestured randomly. “If I can help, let me know. Maybe we can help each other?” He cocked his head the idea coming to his suddenly and he was surprised he hadn’t thought of it before. “If you help me take care of my problem, my boss has a lot of hidden cash. I can help you with your problem.” His boss had a large sum of money stashed in several different places. Surely he would have either moved them by now or changed passwords but the fact remained that when the man went down Lani would have all the resources to get back his own accounts and give what he could to Jared.

[Jared Bell]

“I knew he loved me, despite all of the idiocy.” Jared said brightly. It wasn’t as if he was worried about Odion having problems with him. He could handle that as easily as he would handle a hungry cat. Simply distract it with a bit of string; not that Odion was that simple, but if he dangled the right thing he would be sure to be able to get off the hook for anything he did. By the time Odion was done playing with his string he would have long since forgiven Jared for everything. In fact he would have to see Odion soon and tell him about his past escapade.

Jared chuckled softly. He should have done what needed to be done in Boston, but killing a villain hadn’t been the main goal. He had gone with Odion to get Lani out alive; that was all. “Well if you do need a hand, let me know. When you’ve got a knack for getting into sticky situations like me you start to learn how to get out of them as well.” Jared knew what it was like to0 do everything on his own, and it looked like that was what Lani wanted right now. Then he heard the words. He could tell immediately that Lani would be good at sneaking around. “Well I’ve offered.” Jared said. Lani could take him up on his offer or leave it. “Yeah, that’s about it for my story, I’m figuring that out slowly though.” Jared said, holding back his newfound freedom wasn’t exactly easy, but he couldn’t tell anyone else before he talked to Odion.

Jared smirked, not everyone could make their own title and have it stick. Jared considered it for a second and nodded his head. “Sounds like we’ve got a deal then. You probably need a way that it won’t be traced back to you anyway, and I need a way out of my hole. Looks like we need each other mate.” He said, knowing full well that he had recently taken care of his problem. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t use more spending money though. He would do what he could, and chances were that Lani would find out sooner or later about his freedom.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll start planning today already, and let you know of any brilliant schemes I have.” He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He extended it to Lani. “You might want to put your number in there. I tend to be rather talkative.” He said with a wink. It was sad, but Jared already felt somewhat comfortable around Lani simply because there were no secrets as to what he was.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani chuckled, Odion was perhaps the hardest person on the face of the planet to get to warm up. It was something to be said about the redhead when two people close to him likened him to a cat. Lani could understand, the fact that Jared had done what he had done was evidence enough that he was willing to help out Odion and that made him a friend in Lani’s book. Though Lani would never agree aloud, he definitely saw more idiot in Jared than he did in most people. Perhaps that was an unfair bias from what he had heard from Odion, and perhaps as far as idiocy goes, Lani has no room to talk. He does a fine job on his own getting into trouble for stupid things. Case and point the reason Odion and Jared had had to rescue him in the first place.

Smiling politely at Jared Lani shook his head a little. “I’ve gotten out of plenty of stick situations, but none of them have been quite so… oh well, it doesn’t really matter.” He waved his hand dismissively. Lani smiled at Jared and nodded in acceptance. He was going to hold Jared to that. But then again, Lani didn’t want to be indebted to the phaser, that was why he needed to get some way for them to help each other. Nodding Lani’s smile faded. Jared was in a pickle. There were two reasons, in Lani’s mind, that he hadn’t been put on a hit list yet: either his boss wanted him to suffer or he didn’t think he could kill Lani. That was perhaps why he had gone after Odion instead. The idea alone made Lani’s blood boil. Because if they went after Odion, how long was it before they got to his family. This was such a mess.

It was indeed a completely workable thing. They just needed to keep their cards stacked carefully then they could have more of an opportunity than a desperate land stand. Though if Lani knew that Jared was in the clear and not letting on he might have a few choice words for the man. He was used to people lying to him but he was trading a favor for a favor. It would work either way and Lani would be out of debt to Jared and… he wasn’t sure if he would be indebted to Odion. Something was very different now than it had been and the more time Lani spent with Odion the more he was very certain of some things and very discombobulated by others. Was that how love was supposed to go? But then again, nothing about either of them was normal.

Lani’s eyes widened. “Oh… ok,” he took the phone and added his number, half listening to what Jared was saying. He handed it back and smiled, “Sounds good. But fair warning, I’ve never worked with other people.” A very subtle way of saying if Lani didn’t like it it was not going to happen. Lani’s word was law when it came to planning, especially with his own boss. Though, Lani found himself liking Jared. Lani could like a lot of people and not trust them, that was about where Jared stood. Unlike Jared, Lani’s wariness stemmed from the fact that he knew what Jared was and Jared knew what he was. Thieves in a group were a terror to the world, but they were even more of a terror to each other. “How are you liking Hammel?” Lani asked out of the blue. He didn’t know if Jared was graduating or not this year.