CoV fic: In the Shadows - Chapter Two
Title: In the Shadows
Chapter: Two
Fandom: City of Villains
Character: Tainted Shade aka Tag Van Keuren
Genre: Character origin
Word count: 2,118
Warnings: None
Note: Bridge chapter, which is a nice way of saying nothing really happens. I'm getting there, honestly.
Sitting beside her son’s hospital bed, Theresa Van Keuren sighed softly to herself and leaned forward to tenderly brush unruly blonde bangs from the dampness of his forehead. In spite of the sedative he’d been given which had mercifully put him to sleep, he shivered at her light touch as if he couldn’t stand even that small amount of pressure against his horribly bruised forehead.
The pale grayness to his skin made Tag look as if he were made of wax and the sticky sweat that covered his body had an odd faint scent to it… Theresa couldn’t quite place it but it almost reminded her of bleach or window cleaner. In any case, it was such a wrongness to be associated with her son, who had seemed fine only the previous morning. He’d come downstairs, with his normal bright and warm attitude, grabbing a fast poptart for breakfast on his way out the door for school. He’d given her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and promised to come straight home after soccer practice so that he could rake the yard of the first autumn leaves before dinner.
But instead of being greeted by her son’s smiling face when she got home from work, Theresa had gotten a dreadful call from the school nurse, telling her that Tag had been sent to the hospital. To her panicked question of what was wrong, the nurse had only been able to helplessly tell her that she had no idea. No idea? It seemed inconceivable that a healthy thirteen-year old boy could be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, with no idea of what was wrong with him.
When she arrived frantic at the hospital, really little more than a glorified clinic in their small town, Theresa had at last understood why the nurse couldn’t give her any information. Their family doctor, who worked out of the hospital, was admittedly mystified, and none of the other doctors who had taken a look at Tag in an effort to help out had any idea what the problem was either. No one had ever seen anything like the odd bruises of pooling blood on his shoulders, or the smaller matching ones on his forehead. X-rays had only confused the issue as there seemed to be strange spike-like calcifications at the tops of his scapulas and growing off the front of his skull. The raging fever and oddly tacky sweat that developed overnight only added to the mystery.
Now it was the next day, and no one was any closer to an answer, despite tests and examinations. When he wasn’t sedated, Tag was exhausted and hurting. Theresa had stayed at his side all night, while Tag’s father Kurt paced in and out of his room and up and down the hallway. Both felt pained to see their son looking so unlike his usual self and obviously in such discomfort. But sometime in the night, when Tag woke and saw his mother sitting close in the shadowed room, he’d smiled faintly at her and reached out his trembling hand. She took it in her own and held on, and he’d whispered something to her about how it was going to be alright, before falling asleep again.
His assurance did nothing to settle the constant queasiness in Theresa’s stomach. How could anything be alright when her baby was so mysteriously sick?
As the noon sun shimmered through the gauzy curtains on the window in Tag’s room, Theresa noticed that he was stirring again. The bruises on his forehead were a sick reddish black color and had started to seep, so a bandage had been affixed there, with matching ones to cover the weeping sores on his shoulders. His skin and even his blonde hair seemed ashen. The oxymeter at his bedside beeped quietly, while a bag hanging from an IV tree dripped medications into his bloodstream to keep him comfortable and quell his overwhelming desire to scratch the maddening aching itchiness throughout his body.
The door to the room opened and Theresa - expecting to see her husband with another cup of coffee for her - was surprised when Tag’s friend Jason edged in, accompanied by his mother Noreen. The boy’s grey eyes went straight to Tag and he seemed to hesitate, as if the atypical sight of Tag in a hospital bed was startling and frightening. Undoubtedly it was. Theresa knew it frightened her, she could only imagine how it seemed to a thirteen-year old boy.
“Sorry to disturb you, Theresa,” Noreen said quietly, a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Jason wants to see Tag so badly and the nurse said it would be okay if you agreed.”
“Of course it is,” While Theresa knew it might be upsetting for Jason to see Tag like this, she also felt it was better that he knew what was going on, rather than to be kept in the dark worrying and waiting for someone to remember to tell him anything. Honestly, Tag’s best friend hadn’t crossed Theresa’s mind even once all night, so it was a good thing he’d come on his own. She tried to muster up a smile for the nervous teen, but knew that she probably failed at the attempt. She stood up and gestured him forward. “Here Jason, why don’t you take my seat? I need to see what’s taking Kurt so long with my coffee anyway, and my legs could use a stretch.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Van Keuren,” Jason muttered, his eyes staying fixed on Tag as he came close to claim the chair Theresa had offered. He leaned forward anxiously and searched Tag’s face for any indication that would tell him whether or not his best friend was going to be alright.
Theresa drew in a deep weary breath and stood beside Noreen to watch over the two boys. Jason’s mother offered a kind expression, obviously not sure what she should say, but she finally settled on asking whether any of the doctors had figured out what was wrong yet. Unfortunately Theresa had nothing to tell her, and felt almost powerless to speak as she gazed at her son. He opened his eyes and immediately saw Jason sitting beside him. A weary smile lit his sallow features.
“Hey,” he greeted, obviously pleased to see the other teen, but with bleariness evident in the slur of his speech and the heavy way he blinked. “About time you got here.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Jason replied in a vague sort of way, obviously at a loss for what to say or how to respond to his best friend’s smile while the boy was lying there in a hospital bed surrounded by beeping machines. He looked awful to Jason’s eyes, and the dark haired teen felt a little queasy, since it was so wrong to see Tag like this. He glanced briefly at their mothers, still gathered by the door of the room, and then tipped his head curiously at Tag. “Does anyone know what’s wrong with you yet?”
“Yeah,” Tag said in a grave tone, his smile immediately disappearing to be replaced with an expression of severe seriousness. Jason drew in a breath, not sure if he was prepared to hear news that was obviously so grim, but he was thrown for a loop a moment later when Tag burst into a tired grin and continued. “I’m suffering from an extreme case of awesomeness. Too bad it ain’t catching, though, cuz you could really use some, Jase.”
The grey eyed teen stared blankly for a moment, then smiled and even laughed a little in relief as some of the tension drained from his muscles and he was able to relax. “You jerk,” he shot back with accusing fondness.
“Jason!” Noreen looked aghast and embarrassed that her son would insult a boy in a hospital bed.
“What?” Jason glanced at her and then gestured sharply at Tag with a smirk. “He is a jerk!”
Tag laughed tiredly. “I’m just sick of everyone being so frickin’ serious around me,” he explained, looking from Jason to his mother and meeting her eyes with his own dark blue ones. There was warm amusement there, in spite of how uncomfortable she knew he had to be. “I’m gonna be fine! This is probably just some weird infection or something, and even if it is a horrible disease…” he looked back to Jason, grin widening. “I’m the first one to have it, I bet! That means they gotta name it after me! How cool is that?”
Theresa felt herself relaxing a bit too, glad that he was cheerful enough to tease and make jokes. She sighed lowly; releasing some of her stress in her exhale, then turned and asked Noreen to join her in getting a cup of coffee. As much as she was compelled to stay at Tag’s side constantly, it couldn’t hurt to step away for a few minutes. Besides, she was sure the two boys would like a little time by themselves without parents eavesdropping on their every word.
She was right. As soon as their mothers left the room and the door had swung shut behind them, both boys further relaxed and Jason leaned forward once again, this time more interested than frightened or upset. “So, what’s going on?”
Tag would have shrugged, but his shoulders hurt too much for that. “Ah, they don’t know, really. But I had x-rays last night and you know they found? There’s little spikes under those bruises,” he lifted a heavy hand to gesture vaguely at his forehead and shoulders, “growing off of my bones.”
“Growing off your bones?” Jason repeated, confused.
“Yeah. Three on each side, and three tiny ones on my skull too. And the doctor says that they’re growing enough that they’re fixing to pop right through my skin. That’s where the bruises are coming from.”
Jason drew his head back, startled. “Ew! They’re gonna pop out of your skin? Can’t they stop them from doing that?”
“How they gonna stop bone from growing?” Tag rolled his eyes in a manner that showed he thought that was a pretty dumb question. “The doctor said that the x-rays showed some abnormalities on my other bones too, but they don’t know for sure what those are all about yet.” A yawn distorted his last few words.
Jason frowned a little and fought against a little shiver that ran up his spine. Bone spikes popping through the skin? It just sounded strange and creepy to him, and he wanted to question further, but he saw that Tag’s eyes were looking heavy and that the ashen blonde was having a difficult time keeping them open. “How come you’re so tired?” Jason asked.
“Cuz they’re giving me drugs that make me sleepy,” Tag replied vaguely. He knew perfectly well that the pain from his bruises and the strange crawling sensations throughout his body would be driving him insane if not for the medications that the IV was feeding him, but he spared telling Jason that. He didn’t want his friend to know that he was in pain or at anything less than his best, no matter how obvious it was just looking at him. Some things a guy just didn’t say out loud. He trusted Jason to understand.
The dark-haired teen did. They wouldn’t be keeping Tag sleepy and medicated unless there was a good reason for it, and judging from what the blonde had said - it was probably because he was in pain. Jason had no doubt about that. Having spikes of bone pushing their way through one’s skin probably hurt like hell. Jason couldn’t imagine it, and he hated to think that Tag was experiencing something like that.
“Hey,” Tag’s quiet voice broke through Jason’s contemplation. He looked back at his friend to see that Tag’s eyes had closed again, but it looked like this time they had decided to stay that way. “If I take a nap, you gonna stick around awhile?”
Jason smiled a little. In spite of the frightening situation, it made him feel good that Tag wanted him to stick around. And of course he would. They were best friends, after all, and Jason had always taken that relationship with Tag to be as good as an oath of loyalty. He sat back in the chair and settled himself comfortably, ready to hang in for the long haul. “Yeah, until Mom decides to drag me home. That okay?”
He saw Tag nod, but that was the only response he got. It was enough. Silence fell heavily into the room, interrupted only by the beeping of the machines and the soft sound of Tag’s uneven breathing.
Chapter: Two
Fandom: City of Villains
Character: Tainted Shade aka Tag Van Keuren
Genre: Character origin
Word count: 2,118
Warnings: None
Note: Bridge chapter, which is a nice way of saying nothing really happens. I'm getting there, honestly.
Sitting beside her son’s hospital bed, Theresa Van Keuren sighed softly to herself and leaned forward to tenderly brush unruly blonde bangs from the dampness of his forehead. In spite of the sedative he’d been given which had mercifully put him to sleep, he shivered at her light touch as if he couldn’t stand even that small amount of pressure against his horribly bruised forehead.
The pale grayness to his skin made Tag look as if he were made of wax and the sticky sweat that covered his body had an odd faint scent to it… Theresa couldn’t quite place it but it almost reminded her of bleach or window cleaner. In any case, it was such a wrongness to be associated with her son, who had seemed fine only the previous morning. He’d come downstairs, with his normal bright and warm attitude, grabbing a fast poptart for breakfast on his way out the door for school. He’d given her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and promised to come straight home after soccer practice so that he could rake the yard of the first autumn leaves before dinner.
But instead of being greeted by her son’s smiling face when she got home from work, Theresa had gotten a dreadful call from the school nurse, telling her that Tag had been sent to the hospital. To her panicked question of what was wrong, the nurse had only been able to helplessly tell her that she had no idea. No idea? It seemed inconceivable that a healthy thirteen-year old boy could be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, with no idea of what was wrong with him.
When she arrived frantic at the hospital, really little more than a glorified clinic in their small town, Theresa had at last understood why the nurse couldn’t give her any information. Their family doctor, who worked out of the hospital, was admittedly mystified, and none of the other doctors who had taken a look at Tag in an effort to help out had any idea what the problem was either. No one had ever seen anything like the odd bruises of pooling blood on his shoulders, or the smaller matching ones on his forehead. X-rays had only confused the issue as there seemed to be strange spike-like calcifications at the tops of his scapulas and growing off the front of his skull. The raging fever and oddly tacky sweat that developed overnight only added to the mystery.
Now it was the next day, and no one was any closer to an answer, despite tests and examinations. When he wasn’t sedated, Tag was exhausted and hurting. Theresa had stayed at his side all night, while Tag’s father Kurt paced in and out of his room and up and down the hallway. Both felt pained to see their son looking so unlike his usual self and obviously in such discomfort. But sometime in the night, when Tag woke and saw his mother sitting close in the shadowed room, he’d smiled faintly at her and reached out his trembling hand. She took it in her own and held on, and he’d whispered something to her about how it was going to be alright, before falling asleep again.
His assurance did nothing to settle the constant queasiness in Theresa’s stomach. How could anything be alright when her baby was so mysteriously sick?
As the noon sun shimmered through the gauzy curtains on the window in Tag’s room, Theresa noticed that he was stirring again. The bruises on his forehead were a sick reddish black color and had started to seep, so a bandage had been affixed there, with matching ones to cover the weeping sores on his shoulders. His skin and even his blonde hair seemed ashen. The oxymeter at his bedside beeped quietly, while a bag hanging from an IV tree dripped medications into his bloodstream to keep him comfortable and quell his overwhelming desire to scratch the maddening aching itchiness throughout his body.
The door to the room opened and Theresa - expecting to see her husband with another cup of coffee for her - was surprised when Tag’s friend Jason edged in, accompanied by his mother Noreen. The boy’s grey eyes went straight to Tag and he seemed to hesitate, as if the atypical sight of Tag in a hospital bed was startling and frightening. Undoubtedly it was. Theresa knew it frightened her, she could only imagine how it seemed to a thirteen-year old boy.
“Sorry to disturb you, Theresa,” Noreen said quietly, a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Jason wants to see Tag so badly and the nurse said it would be okay if you agreed.”
“Of course it is,” While Theresa knew it might be upsetting for Jason to see Tag like this, she also felt it was better that he knew what was going on, rather than to be kept in the dark worrying and waiting for someone to remember to tell him anything. Honestly, Tag’s best friend hadn’t crossed Theresa’s mind even once all night, so it was a good thing he’d come on his own. She tried to muster up a smile for the nervous teen, but knew that she probably failed at the attempt. She stood up and gestured him forward. “Here Jason, why don’t you take my seat? I need to see what’s taking Kurt so long with my coffee anyway, and my legs could use a stretch.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Van Keuren,” Jason muttered, his eyes staying fixed on Tag as he came close to claim the chair Theresa had offered. He leaned forward anxiously and searched Tag’s face for any indication that would tell him whether or not his best friend was going to be alright.
Theresa drew in a deep weary breath and stood beside Noreen to watch over the two boys. Jason’s mother offered a kind expression, obviously not sure what she should say, but she finally settled on asking whether any of the doctors had figured out what was wrong yet. Unfortunately Theresa had nothing to tell her, and felt almost powerless to speak as she gazed at her son. He opened his eyes and immediately saw Jason sitting beside him. A weary smile lit his sallow features.
“Hey,” he greeted, obviously pleased to see the other teen, but with bleariness evident in the slur of his speech and the heavy way he blinked. “About time you got here.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Jason replied in a vague sort of way, obviously at a loss for what to say or how to respond to his best friend’s smile while the boy was lying there in a hospital bed surrounded by beeping machines. He looked awful to Jason’s eyes, and the dark haired teen felt a little queasy, since it was so wrong to see Tag like this. He glanced briefly at their mothers, still gathered by the door of the room, and then tipped his head curiously at Tag. “Does anyone know what’s wrong with you yet?”
“Yeah,” Tag said in a grave tone, his smile immediately disappearing to be replaced with an expression of severe seriousness. Jason drew in a breath, not sure if he was prepared to hear news that was obviously so grim, but he was thrown for a loop a moment later when Tag burst into a tired grin and continued. “I’m suffering from an extreme case of awesomeness. Too bad it ain’t catching, though, cuz you could really use some, Jase.”
The grey eyed teen stared blankly for a moment, then smiled and even laughed a little in relief as some of the tension drained from his muscles and he was able to relax. “You jerk,” he shot back with accusing fondness.
“Jason!” Noreen looked aghast and embarrassed that her son would insult a boy in a hospital bed.
“What?” Jason glanced at her and then gestured sharply at Tag with a smirk. “He is a jerk!”
Tag laughed tiredly. “I’m just sick of everyone being so frickin’ serious around me,” he explained, looking from Jason to his mother and meeting her eyes with his own dark blue ones. There was warm amusement there, in spite of how uncomfortable she knew he had to be. “I’m gonna be fine! This is probably just some weird infection or something, and even if it is a horrible disease…” he looked back to Jason, grin widening. “I’m the first one to have it, I bet! That means they gotta name it after me! How cool is that?”
Theresa felt herself relaxing a bit too, glad that he was cheerful enough to tease and make jokes. She sighed lowly; releasing some of her stress in her exhale, then turned and asked Noreen to join her in getting a cup of coffee. As much as she was compelled to stay at Tag’s side constantly, it couldn’t hurt to step away for a few minutes. Besides, she was sure the two boys would like a little time by themselves without parents eavesdropping on their every word.
She was right. As soon as their mothers left the room and the door had swung shut behind them, both boys further relaxed and Jason leaned forward once again, this time more interested than frightened or upset. “So, what’s going on?”
Tag would have shrugged, but his shoulders hurt too much for that. “Ah, they don’t know, really. But I had x-rays last night and you know they found? There’s little spikes under those bruises,” he lifted a heavy hand to gesture vaguely at his forehead and shoulders, “growing off of my bones.”
“Growing off your bones?” Jason repeated, confused.
“Yeah. Three on each side, and three tiny ones on my skull too. And the doctor says that they’re growing enough that they’re fixing to pop right through my skin. That’s where the bruises are coming from.”
Jason drew his head back, startled. “Ew! They’re gonna pop out of your skin? Can’t they stop them from doing that?”
“How they gonna stop bone from growing?” Tag rolled his eyes in a manner that showed he thought that was a pretty dumb question. “The doctor said that the x-rays showed some abnormalities on my other bones too, but they don’t know for sure what those are all about yet.” A yawn distorted his last few words.
Jason frowned a little and fought against a little shiver that ran up his spine. Bone spikes popping through the skin? It just sounded strange and creepy to him, and he wanted to question further, but he saw that Tag’s eyes were looking heavy and that the ashen blonde was having a difficult time keeping them open. “How come you’re so tired?” Jason asked.
“Cuz they’re giving me drugs that make me sleepy,” Tag replied vaguely. He knew perfectly well that the pain from his bruises and the strange crawling sensations throughout his body would be driving him insane if not for the medications that the IV was feeding him, but he spared telling Jason that. He didn’t want his friend to know that he was in pain or at anything less than his best, no matter how obvious it was just looking at him. Some things a guy just didn’t say out loud. He trusted Jason to understand.
The dark-haired teen did. They wouldn’t be keeping Tag sleepy and medicated unless there was a good reason for it, and judging from what the blonde had said - it was probably because he was in pain. Jason had no doubt about that. Having spikes of bone pushing their way through one’s skin probably hurt like hell. Jason couldn’t imagine it, and he hated to think that Tag was experiencing something like that.
“Hey,” Tag’s quiet voice broke through Jason’s contemplation. He looked back at his friend to see that Tag’s eyes had closed again, but it looked like this time they had decided to stay that way. “If I take a nap, you gonna stick around awhile?”
Jason smiled a little. In spite of the frightening situation, it made him feel good that Tag wanted him to stick around. And of course he would. They were best friends, after all, and Jason had always taken that relationship with Tag to be as good as an oath of loyalty. He sat back in the chair and settled himself comfortably, ready to hang in for the long haul. “Yeah, until Mom decides to drag me home. That okay?”
He saw Tag nod, but that was the only response he got. It was enough. Silence fell heavily into the room, interrupted only by the beeping of the machines and the soft sound of Tag’s uneven breathing.