Heartbeats Are Deadly Ch. 4

"So, how long was I out?"

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief. "About three days."

Roxanne's eyes widened and she looked back and forth between Natalia and Xavier. She reached out uneasily and felt the minds of the people in the room. Checking for what, Xavier didn't know but he held still and waited for her to finish her prodding.

Slowly, her face cleared and she took shaky breath. "I guess I really am out."

Julia quickly handed her a large glass of blood and she looked at it a moment, trying to figure out if it was real or not, before drinking hungrily. She was still looking around the large bedroom; searching for things that would prove she really was out.

Xavier caught Silvia's eye and motioned to take the staff members out. She nodded and closed the door behind her once the room had cleared.

Julia and Natalia were on the bed sitting on either side of Roxanne, supplying that wordless female comfort only girls could give each other.

Xavier stood there awkwardly.

After a few minutes, he decided to break the silence. "So, are you ok now, Rox?"

A second later, only one thought rang in Xavier's head. Crap.

The moment she heard his voice, Roxanne broke down in sobs that shook her body. Both girls were trying to soothe her but she was hysterical.

Natalia shot him a look. You're not helping.

What did I do? Xavier thought back incredulously.

Her reality perspective it just a little messed up right now, if you haven't noticed.

And?

In case you haven't noticed, you look and sound very twin-like to your twin brother.

Now Xavier was confused. What has that got to do with anything?

Ugh, I don't have time to explain this to you. You're not helping her by being here, now get. She willed him out the door and then withdrew her mind.

Still confused, Xavier felt this wasn't the time to be asking questions and left the
room; closing the door soundlessly behind him.

He leaned up against the far wall; waiting for either Natalia or Julia to come out and tell him what was going on.

The minutes dragged by and still nothing.

He started mulling over what Natalia had said.

You look and sound very twin-like to your twin brother.

Roxanne had never had any trouble telling them apart; even when they were kids she had made her point clear that they couldn't fool her no matter what they tried.  It made Xavier uneasy just to think about what she might have seen that could make her break down like that. Especially when it was triggered by noticing him or from what Natalia said, noticing "Cort".

He ran a hand though his hair and looked down the hall. Only the blue hued colors of the hall stared back at him. A flicker of sound caught his attention and he looked back up and saw Silvia walking slowly towards him. The head stewardess had an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry to take you away milord but Lady Sapphiri is waiting for you to make the conference call to the Amethisti."

Xavier sighed. "Alright."

She smiled, her kind eyes understanding. "I'm sure Lady Julia and Miss Natalia will help her feel better."

"Yeah… Thanks, Silvia."

"You're welcome, milord." She turned and headed back the way she came.

Xavier turned toward the conference rooms and stared walking.

~ӂ~~ӂ~~ӂ~~ӂ~~ӂ~

Later that night, Xavier was back in his study, working on the paper work monster, when a light knock sounded on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and Roxanne stepped through; eyes grim. "Hey."

"Hey."

She made her way to one of the bookshelves and plucked a black and white leather bound volume. Opening it, she leafed thought a few pages before putting it back and grabbing another. They were all history books. Xavier went back to his paper work. She would start the conversation when she was ready.

"So, how's the paperwork monster coming?" She asked suddenly.

"Fine, though it's a lot to sift through. I can see why Father and Mamma left for a vacation ASAP. I want a break already." He said with attempted humor.
She didn't laugh. "Well I'm glad they did. They deserve a getaway."

"Yeah..."

She turned away, pulling out another book, and another silence lapped.

Finally she got tired of rummaging through the books and sank into the sofa. She pulled a pillow to her chest and launched right into it.

"I saw Cort, every time ending up somewhere different…… and most times causing all sorts of…… problems."

Xavier put his pen down and leaned back in his chair. "What do you think we should do about him?"

She laughed bitterly. "I don't know. He could be anywhere; driving around blowing off steam before coming back or out on a rampage or anything in-between. I wouldn't know where to start until he pops up on the radar again." she sat up suddenly and looked Xavier straight in the eye, "I'm not going to lie Xavier, I saw that he was going to come back but I also saw that he was going to try to kill you."

Xavier was shocked. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if worse come to worse, you're going to have to kill your brother."

Neither of them moved; Roxanne with a pointed gaze and Xavier still stunned by what she said.

"So what you're saying…. is…… that he's not coming back?"

She sighed and pulled her knees so they tucked beneath her chin. "No, I don't think so."

Xavier buried his face in his hands. Fuck. He clenched and unclenched his fists trying to calm the overwhelming urge to destroy things. He had feared the worst when Roxanne had been in a coma like that but this… not this. Cort was his brother, not some terrorist.

The light and muffled hitching of breath brought Xavier back to his senses. He looked up
to see Roxanne's shoulders shaking and her head buried in the pillow.  He got up slowly and moved to sit beside her. If he was feeling like this, he couldn't imagine what she must be going through after seeing it for herself.

"Rox?"

A sniffle came from her curled up form. "Sorry… I… I thought I was done crying."

"It's ok. I feel like bawling my eyes out myself."

She laughed but it came out more like a hiccup-snort. "Don't you dare. We don't need both of us crying here."

"Why is it that you girls are the only ones who get to cry?"

"Because you boys always claim that you're so masculine so we hold you to it."

Xavier chuckled and changed the subject. "Is there anything we can do now? Something that might help him come back?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. If he comes back great, if not there is no telling where he is or what will be his first move."

"But you said–"

"I said that he would cause trouble, I have no idea what he is going to do exactly." She corrected, still looking down.

"Well what did you see him doing? I mean he has to start somewhere. If we can find him before he really goes downhill then…" He trailed off. The little crease between Roxanne's eyebrows was there. That only came out either when she was in deep thought or something was really bothering her. "Something tells me that's not really an option."

"You know how my visions work, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Cort seems to have found a way to leave false trails, so to speak."

Realization dawned on Xavier. Long ago Cort had figured out how to keep from triggering Roxanne's visions. At the time it had kept both Roxanne and Cort from being hurt but now…

"So if you really have no idea what Cort is doing right now then what did you see that made you so scared?"

"I can't see what he is going to do in the near future but I sure saw quite a few different endings. It only seems to cover up things for a few months. After that, well whatever I saw was too jumbled up to make much sense out of. As it is, even what I saw might change. I know you two came up with the trick together so tell me how it works."

Xavier hesitated.

"I'm basically blind for the next few months. If we are going to have any chance of stopping him I need to know what to look for." She lowered her voice, "What happened between your brother and I is over; don't worry about stepping on any toes."

"I think it'll be easier if I just tell you how he found the loophole." He took a shaky breath and then began. "When Cort found out that you were marrying Ezequiel, he was so scared that his reaction had triggered a vision. I think he spent three whole days down in the armory and sparring rings just trying to take his mind off it. When we got to New York for the celebrations, you didn't act any different or give any hints that you knew. After a day or two, it was apparent that you hadn't seen anything. I didn't know it at the time but during that week before the wedding, Cort started to do little tests to see just how the 'loophole' worked. He figured out that if you firmly decided on one set of actions, and you mind had to be really set in stone, it didn't trigger visions unless the decision directly involved you. If the decision didn't influence your path, your sense didn't catch it."

"That doesn't make any sense, well it does, but not for the current situation. I saw a lot of different outcomes. He couldn't have possibly decided to do ten different paths. One would end up the ultimate decision and I'd be able to see it. Not these ten different paths at three months away."

"Well that leads us to the second loop hole. Your visions are triggered by someone's decision or action. If someone were to hold all their decisions in a perfectly equal balance, Cort thought that just maybe it might also keep the visions from triggering."

"What do you mean thought?"

"Well he never actually pulled it off. He tried; the longest he ever kept it going I think was for a day. The mental discipline to keep your potential decisions perfectly equal is extraordinary and he's not that great at mental discipline in the first place."

"First of all, how did you two do all this 'testing' without me knowing? Second, how could Cort have done it well enough that it scrambled visions for three whole months?"

Xavier smirked. "Oh, we kept it to little things. Remember that time we caught you in that mock fight trap? You thought no one was going to catch you because we thought very hard about not catching you. You didn't get the vision till the last moment right?"

"Tsk, that was lucky."

"Anyways, that's all I really know. I had fun catching you off guard a few times but it was Cort that really tested the limits of it…" He trailed off; realizing where he had gone with the conversation. His brother's and Roxanne's relationship was something he instinctively steered away from.

Roxanne sighed. "No toes, remember? Cort told me something along these lines when we . . . discussed what happened. I had figured it only worked with huge decisions like that. I didn't give it much thought at the time because I was still so shocked that I hadn't known all those years. I guess it makes sense that it would work with lesser things to a degree. Which brings us back to the other question: What in the world did he do to cause visions like these?"

"Well I have a theory but it's pretty bizarre."

"After today, bizarre is pretty sane in my book." She laughed.

"What if Cort actually mastered keeping all of his decisions perfectly balanced? It would explain the indecisiveness."

"He was pretty hell bent in each of his different paths. It also doesn't explain the fact that it only blocked three months. If he didn't make a decision, how could I have seen all those outcomes?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, it's just a theory. I think it needs to jostle around a few sleepless days before making any sense."

"Yeah . . . Well, I think I'm going to go eat and I need to call Headquarters; things must be chaotic over there with both me and Dustan gone." She stood up and headed for the door. Out of habit Xavier also got up. His mother always made sure that he and his brother were proper gentlemen in opening the door for women.

"What happened to Dunstan? It's crazy when you're gone but you actually left with only your third in charge?"

"He's taking some time off. Rachel is gonna have the baby any day now. This was only supposed to be a two night one day adventure after all. I'm sure they survived."

He laughed. "Alright, take it easy though."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved her hand nonchalantly.

He opened the door. "If I didn't know you so well, I'd say that smile was real."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Please don't. It's just going to take some time."

"I know, but talking about it usually helps."

Roxanne's eye's flashed open; giving him the full effect of her piercing violet gaze. "Xavier, understand when I say this now: unless it is absolutely necessary for your survival, there are some things that I am not going to tell you. Trust me when I say this, you do not want to know. Please don't ask me what I saw. I'm sorry." With that, she walked out.

Xavier was stunned silent for the second time that day. He closed the door and went back to his desk. Roxanne had always been one to keep secrets but… He tried to get back to work but what she said kept invading his thoughts. One thing he knew for sure, if there was any hope of getting Cort to come back he needed her help.

I trust you Rox, but if what you saw is really that bad are you hurting or helping yourself by keeping it in?