As The World Turns Cold

Mapped Out Lives

He walked back over to the desk. The muscles at his back stretched tight against his bare skin. Two thin, sharp scars ran across his shoulder blades to rest near his hips. Combined, the scars looked like a deep-set V in the grooves of his skin. He gripped the edge of the desk fiercely. "They moved once again. Right after you were taken away, your family left all thoughts of you behind. They left you to die in the hands of the government!"

He turned to look at me. Pain filled his gaze. "You were put through so much torture for the sake of your family and it turns out you didn't need to worry about them. They're all fine."

"My sister. She's dead because of my lack of cooperation. It's my fault." Mercy fought to restrain the tears that threatened to leak out. He knew what happened. He was there with her when one of the guards told Mercy of her sister's fate. Why was he so persistent to persuade her that they were all okay when it was clear they were not?

Rogue shook his head. "They created a rouse, Mercy. The government lies all the time. Apparently, they found the one thing they knew would bring out your hidden powers and they spun a web of lies to make you believe what you wanted to." His hands crested over a heap of papers next to the map. "It's easy to stage a recording, I should know. I've done it on many occasions."

"What are you talking about?" Mercy glanced at his eyes, looking for anything that would lead her to believe he was lying, but the only thing etched on his face was concern and anger. The papers hurdled through the air as his hand released them.

One paper, in particular, landed beside her. It was a picture of her sister looking bright, happy, and very much alive. The most interesting thing, however, was not seeing her and how much she had grown in the years, but seeing the date-yesterday's date-in the bottom right corner. If this date and picture were accurate, Mercy's sister was alive.

"That is what I'm talking about," Rogue gestured wildly at the paper before her. "Your sister is very much alive, right now. They lied to you." He walked back to Mercy's side and pulled her hands away from her lap and into his grasp. "Don't you get it?" He pleaded with her.

"Your parents can't be mad at you for the death of your sister, because she's not dead." He paused. "But you can be mad at them for carrying on as if you never mattered to the world. They forgot about you or simply ceased to care."

Mercy was angry at everything. She was furious that those sick brutes tortured her for years to fake her sister's death and she was also mad that her parents stopped trying to get her back, if they tried at all. Mercy was eaten away with guilt when they had told her Lily had been murdered, she thought her parents wouldn't wish to see her again and she was distraught. All that worrying was for nothing; come to find out they didn't want to see her anyway. But Mercy wouldn't stop until she saw them for herself. "We still have to go. I have to get home."

Rogue sighed and his hands clasped Mercy's tighter. "I knew you would say that." His gaze flitted across her face, resting on her lips for a mere second before he turned to the map again. He pointed at an area to the east of where they were now. "They're in Louisville, Kentucky. We can leave right now if you are feeling better, but you must promise me one thing. You know your family is safe, but there are people like us out there that can still be caught." He paused.

"More innocent children can be taken from their homes and families just as we were. I need you to promise me that after we get to Kentucky and you see your family, you will help me fight the forces that held us captive." He stood, dropping Mercy's hands in the process. "They deserve to feel the pain that we had to suffer through." He moved to pull out a shirt from a plastic bag on the chair. Mercy watched as Rogue pulled the black material over his head, messing up his already-disheveled hair in the process, his muscles pulling taut against his skin.