Seduction. Have you ever seduced someone or has anyone ever seduced you?
Kevin's never been what anyone would call an optimist. He doesn't sit and wait for good things to come his way;he looks for ways to make the dice roll right for him. Someone else has the girl he wants? He'll find a way to make the Golden Boy not look so great. Watch and wait and pounce when the chance comes his way. It always will. And for those who'd call that manipulative and unfair--if anyone did--well, if this 'someone' hadn't screwed up to begin with, they wouldn't have cause to complain.
Everyone has flaws, inner ugliness. There are times Wither thinks that mutations just render the soul in flesh. Whatever one has the potential to be.
God as the ultimate artist, not glossing over his subject's warts at all.
So when Emma Frost tries to convince him to return to the Institute, after his first departure, he recognizes someone else who's talented at bending circumstances,people, maybe even powers, to her agenda.
Of course he wouldn't say that aloud to her(if he even needs to), but he likes
what he sees.She's a fit teacher for him, sure enough. Maybe she can deliver what she promises.
And there's Laurie. There always is, though Frost is clever enough not to make her part of the negotiations.
Hope's much more tempting. The idea that maybe he can have everything, or most, of what he wants, without giving up what power he has. That, deadly or no, has ingrained itself too deeply to be rubbed out.
He's not sure when he stopped wanting the mutant "gift" he has removed.
Then...
He loses control. Lets that hope drown out good sense, and doesn't snap out of it until Laurie's screaming in pain, her hands under his, jolt him back to reality.
He retreats, to lick his own wounds, furious and yet still wanting. The light's too bright for him.
But the darkness still has its pleasures. Selene finds him, and they come to that particular discovery.Or,she leads him to realize it. That killing and other...appetites?...aren't mutually exclusive.
He's been, not the good boy, but playing the part of someone who doesn't enjoy violence or others' pain, for almost three years now. What has it gotten him?
He's out of reasons to resist the temptation she represents.
"All you have to do is say yes, and I will be your queen..."
"Yes."
Muse: Kevin Ford
Fandom: Misc Comics
Word count: 386