Shards

Angel's Accusations

Octavia feels like throwing up. Annoyingly kind, up-beat Xander killed a child. He would never. But he admitted to it. Why would Xander lie about that? Did the Chromies brainwash him? But if they did, why would Xander still care about her, Mindy, and supposedly Aurora?

Octavia lightly bites on her own knuckle. The oils on her hand are salty. She wants to comfort Xander but doesn't know how, especially with feeling disgusted by him killing a child. Illness gripping and sloshing her innards makes doing anything hard. Emptiness in her mind fills with darkness.

Angel comes to Xander's side. She takes Xander's hand out of his mouth and wipes the tear off his face.

"You didn't know. But your parents did," Angel says. "Don't get mad at yourself for something your parents are ultimately at fault for. But from that horrible thing that happened, think about how many other kids you've helped save since then. How many innocent lives you've saved." She pets Xander's head, the small, black afro on it squishing and flattening under her hand.

Xander nods and wipes his hand off on his pants. "I know. I've only been told over a hundred times. Eighty of those by you, I'm sure."

Angel gives a gentle smile.

"It's still something I can't come to full grips with at times, though," Xander says.

Angel pokes him in the chest. "Which shows you still have a heart."

Heavy, awkward silence weighs on the room. Angel tends to Xander's hand. When it's cleaned and bandaged, she leans on him. The room stays quiet the entire time.

"I don't want to, but a part of me believes you, Xander," Octavia finally says. The words fall out of her mouth without much thought. This can't be some elaborate lie Xander tells. It would be a stupid lie. And grief and regret could push people to do crazy things, such as join rebel groups in Xander's case.

Xander puts a hand on Octavia's arm. She lets it stay there for a moment before shrugging it off.

"But that still doesn't mean you're still not mixed up with anarchists and what happened will never excuse you for joining the group responsible for Aurora's murder." A gloss glazes Octavia's vision.

Xander places his hands on Octavia's wrists. "I'm not involved with the people who tried to kill Aurora. That 'group' was your parents. Your parents are no-less messed up than mine."

Octavia moves to hit Xander again, but his hands tighten to a grip. She squirms against his grip but can't wiggle free. "You're trying to tell me my parents are twisted like yours? That's sick, Xander! Absolutely sick!"

"It is sick, but it's true, Octi." Xander stares unblinkingly into Octavia's eyes. "Your dad is behind that twisted Wellfare Program, the one that placed that kid into a system allowing him to be mutilated and tortured. Your mom helps to enforce it and keep people under strict control to ensure there will always be people to feed into the program to make sure WAITH has their human guinea pigs to test on. And both of your parents tried to kill Aurora."

"That's not true!" Octavia shouts. "My parents may not be saints, they may be hard asses, but they're not monsters like that."

"I thought the same thing," Angel says. "I know it's a lot to take in and hard to believe." She goes on the verge of more waterworks. "But I had no choice to come to terms with it fast when they dumped me in the Outskirts to die. To use me as a pity case to drive Dad's votes up during election season." She grits her teeth. Hot anger reddens her face. "Mom and Dad always drug me around me from doctor to doctor looking for some sort of magic cure for me while keeping me out of the public eye and doing their best to act like I didn't exist. You know that's why Xander and I became such close friends. Other than you, he was the only one to pay attention to me and understands what it's like to be outcasted. As we got older, Mom and Dad put more on you, taking you away from me and pushing me further in the shadows. They didn't really care about me. Not until I 'died' did I suddenly become important. I thought them trying to find me doctors was their way of trying to help me, but they were only doing it for themselves. They wanted heirs for their great empire. But when it was determined that there was no cure for me, I became a burden and waste of resources, so they dumped me and left me to die." Angel's fingers dig into the arms of her wheelchair. "And then they tried to do the same thing to you."

Xander takes his turn to hold Octavia back. This time, an arm suffices to keep her back.

"Mom and Dad would never do that to either of us," Octavia says.

"They did, Octavia!" Angel slams her fist on the armrests. "Why else would they tell you to go to a party, one plastered all through the Net, by yourself with no to shotty security? A setup like that is a magnet for rebels and terrorists. Mom and Dad know that, but they've got you so wrapped around their fingers that you wouldn't think twice to question their intentions. It's lucky the Chromies were the ones to jump at the opportunity as opposed to some bomber, gasser, or pyro. Otherwise, you would've really been dead and I..." A sharp breath goes through Angel's clenched teeth.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Octavia says. "If they wanted 'heirs', why would they try to kill me? They don't have any more kids. And there is still Aurora's body. I saw it and was there for the ID, cremation, funeral, everything."

"Because they faked the body," Angel says.

"How do you fake a body like that?" Octavia says.

"The same way they do in shows, like Emergency! Dial 0-0-0. They made the dead bodies on it look real. Remember how you used to have to comfort me and tell me they were fake because I thought they were real? It's the same thing except Mom and Dad told you it was real. And you know Mom and Dad have the connections to pull something off like that."

"But the NetNews. They covered it. Doctors gave official documents. So many people said it was Aurora," Octavia says to the ugly tile floor.

"Mom and Dad have deep pockets and a lot of influence. Money and threats can go a long way. And why wouldn't the NetNews jump on such a story, whether it's true or not?" Angel says. "And if it ever got out that it was faked, that's just more news and stories for them."

"But...but why would Mom and Dad do that? Go through all that trouble? That still doesn't answer why they would try to get rid of me, if your conspiracy theory about heirs and a fake body is true," Octavia says.

"That's where I can kinda step into this conversation," Shard says. "But before I go on about a recent WAITH runaway found by one of our satellite camps, I think it best for us," Shard motions at Xander, Angel, and himself, "to tell everything that landed you here, Angel."

Angel and Xander nod. The three begin to tell what happened.