Once upon a Meeting (Ludwig/Francis)

[Francis L. Bonnefoy]

Days passed as time went on here; it was obvious now that he was stuck, that no one was going to rescue him. He knew his parents wouldn't, this is what you did with mutants that were under you. Francis knew he had brought shame on his parents, or at least he thought he did as they didn't try to stop him from being taken. He could only imagine what his friends thought, but knew they were too young and too far away to do anything. He never would have expected them to find him while so young, especially if they were never told what happened to him.

Sitting outside, he let his thoughts trace over his friends, especially his friends little brother. Scrunching his eyebrows, Francis could only wonder why his young thoughts turned in that direction. But then he saw it. A young boy, a few years younger than him, walking out of the main office. His hair was still down over his face and he couldn’t quite read the expression in those blue eyes, but he knew he didn’t really need to know what the boy was thinking. He didn't know if he was just being processed or if he had been here a while, but he knew what he had to do. Getting up from where he was sitting, he started towards him. He made up his mind; he would try to watch over Ludwig.

"Ludwig~ Mon Ami, do you remember me? Your old friend Francis!"

For Gilbert, he would keep watch over this boy for Gilbert. He owed it to them both…. and perhaps with Ludwig around… and with Francis there for Ludwig…. They would both remember their friend more clearly than if they were apart. Once to the younger boy, he ran a hand through the shorter blond hair and smiled widely at him. It never hurt to have a friend in these circumstances.

[Ludwig A. Beilschmidt]

and the coal hits the fire and the wheels start to spin

”Look, young man.” The counselor sitting across the table from him had a severe look on his face. ”If we get one more complaint about property damage, there will be consequences.” Ludwig had a feeling that he would never get used to this stupid place. When he’d first arrived, he’d had a one-on-one session with some office lady who had explained that Weeds wasn’t so bad: he’d still learn things and he’d be able to learn to control his powers properly. Of course, it hadn’t taken long for Ludwig to realize that every single aspect of Weeds came with a catch. ”How am I supposed to learn to control my abilities if I can’t practice with them?” he challenged the counselor. Instantly, he knew he’d misspoken: the man frowned darkly at him. ”That isn’t my concern. Your classmates don’t seem to have a problem with it.” That was so unfair that it stung. Ludwig opened his mouth to voice that, just before the counselor brought his hand down onto the desk with a bang. The words died in Ludwig’s throat: he wasn’t afraid of verbal or physical pain, but it was clear he wasn’t going to win this argument, even with logic on his side. ”This is the last replacement pillow we’re giving you,” the counselor announced with false magnanimity, ”and if you ruin this one, you can go without, or you can help the janitor clean the kitchens until you’ve earned a new one. And if we hear about anything happening to your roommate, you’re going to be in worse trouble.” Ludwig maintained his sudden silence; it infuriated him that his roommate had ratted him out for the accident with the pillow (the stupid cheap thing had gone up like dry leaves) but it made him angrier still that the counselor thought he’d retaliate. ”I’d better not see your file on my desk for the next two months,” the counselor warned him. ”Go.” Ludwig didn’t need telling twice: he stood up silently and left the office as calmly as he could, keeping his eyes on the ground in anger. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t his fault his ability was so volatile, it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t have a better place to practice with it than his tiny dormitory room with its oily polyester pillow, it wasn’t his fault that his roommate either disliked him enough to report him for something they all did or feared him enough to rat him out as a threat; but all of the injustices had piled together to ruin the rest of his day. At least, that’s what he had thought until an oddly familiar voice cut through his inner raging. Looking up quickly, the frustration that Ludwig had been feeling quickly receded. ”Francis?” There was no mistaking that face or that unique accent; somehow, one of his brother’s closest friends was standing in front of him. Ludwig shut his eyes briefly as Francis ruffled his hair; that contagious gesture had passed from Gilbert to his friends, and he’d always whined when one of them had done it before, but now he bit back his protest. Just like a familiar face, a familiar gesture wasn’t something he’d take for granted here. Although Ludwig couldn’t bring himself to return the warm smile that Francis gave him, he looked up at him hopefully. It didn’t seem possible, running into someone he actually knew before Weeds, but… somehow it had happened. All of these years, Francis had obviously been hiding a secret too. ”What happened?” he asked curiously. He didn’t need to ask ‘what are you doing here’: anyone at Weeds that was younger than 18 was a student — and therefore a mutant. ”How long have you been here?” Word Count: 642 Tags: Francis L. Bonnefoy Notes: --

by worldie for lena

[Francis L. Bonnefoy]

"What happened, how long have you been here?"

It was a question that he should have been expecting, but yet he had hoped for a bit of a normal question. But then again, nothing in this place was normal so why should this conversation. Smiling sadly, all Francis could do was shrug and motion for Ludwig to have a seat on one of the garden walls that was only waist height. Brushing a piece of hair that had escaped the tail to behind his ear, he could only look at Ludwig, trying to decide how much he had been through here, and how much he still had to go through.

"Life, mon ami, life happens with mistakes and sometimes people end up on places they do not wish to be, especially for kids." Moving to sit himself, he didn’t Ludwig now, but at one of the flowers, one that he had started to caress the soft blooms gently. "Children so full of amazement at what they can do, they dont stop to think about the consequences of their actions until it is too late. And I have been here since I was thirteen. "

That was more or less what happened, at least it was one way to put it. He wasn’t going to tell Ludwig his power yet, he wanted to see if the boy could guess with the flower leaning more into his fingers. Sighing and turning back to look at the smaller blond boy, he could only keep that sad smile that had graced his face since he saw his young companion.

"Is this also what happened to you? How did you manage to get caught? Tell you truth; I never would have suspected you, though I knew I would never see your brother in here."

After all these years, it was getting hard to remember his friends from the outside, though he tried very hard to keep them alive in his head with nothing to remind him. It was hard to remember that Antonio had eyes the color of gems, or that Gilbert seemed to always have a smile on his face and a mysterious twinkle in his eye. He hopped Ludwig would never have that problem of remembering his brother, especially since he could see Francis, a person from the outside past.

[Ludwig A. Beilschmidt]

and the coal hits the fire and the wheels start to spin

Following Francis’ lead, Ludwig took a seat on the low wall, still unsmiling. He reached up and straightened his hair from where it had been ruffled as he listened to the older boy speak. Francis had always had a flair for the dramatic and poetic, and even here, Ludwig could tell he hadn’t lost it: life happens, indeed. But the message was one Ludwig had heard echoed often enough in the hallways of Weeds. He couldn’t say he’d ever felt the same way: if he’d ever been “full of amazement” at his abilities, he couldn’t remember it — he’d always been worried. But children with less destructive abilities had perhaps found more of a thrill from discovering what they could do and pushing their limits. Francis seemed to be in that group of people; the flower he kept messing with seemed to react to his attentions, bending this way and that despite the lack of wind. Biting back a huff, Ludwig fought the urge to glare at the older boy. If his power was so benign, what on earth had he done to get himself caught? He might have been showing off for a friend or for a girl, that would be believable… Mentally, Ludwig shook himself. If he kept being angry about these things, Francis might get upset with him, and friendly faces were hard enough to come by here. True, Francis had always been closer to Gilbert, not him, but now that the two of them had been thrown together through circumstance, Ludwig wasn’t going to take that for granted. When Francis turned the conversation back to him, Ludwig stared at the ground, kicking his feet idly against the fence and trying not to recall the angry scolding he’d just gotten about using his powers. ”I tried really hard not to get caught,” he sighed. ”I made sure nobody found out about what I could do, not even Gilbert.” Ludwig had been hoping for news of his brother, but Francis had been spirited away to Weeds before even he had. ”There were these kids at school that liked to pick on me, and they started following me home, and one day I just… I just got tired of them bothering me.” Ludwig lowered his voice, his tone softening with the weight of the guilt that had been heaped on his shoulders for that, ”I just wanted to scare them a little, and nobody even got hurt, but… I-I messed up. It was stupid.” Unhappily, he glanced up at Francis. He couldn't risk any kind of display in the hallways, not with him standing on such thin ice. But there was an incident from the past that Francis might have heard of. "Did Gilbert ever tell you about the time the house almost burned down? That was my fault too." Ludwig turned his eyes back to the floor, "I messed with the fire from the gas burner and lost control of it. But the whole thing just looked so much like an accident that nobody paid close attention to it. My, my parents always suspected Gilbert would end up being a mutant, you know... from how he looked." Ludwig's expression hardened; his parents had always judged Gilbert in the most wrong ways, and he hated them for that. "They didn't worry about me at all." Word Count: 563 Tags: Francis L. Bonnefoy Notes: Late D:

by worldie for lena

[Francis L. Bonnefoy]

“My, my parents always suspected Gilbert would end up being a mutant, you know... from how he looked. They didn't worry about me at all."

Looking at the younger boy in front of him, he could only offer a sad smile. He didn't know if he had been told of the fire incident, or if he just couldn't remember. So many of his memories had vanished since he came here; he honestly thought that Gilbert was a figment of his imagination until he saw Ludwig here, such were his faded memories This was living proof of his old friends; and while it was slightly painful, he was also glad. He would do what he could for this boy, no matter what it involved.

"I always knew Gilbert wouldn't end up here with me.... and now I wish I would have paid more attention to you too... perhaps if I had, I might have been able to help in some way. If there is anything I can do to help you now, please don't hesitate to as me. We should stick together here, ja?"

There was an invitation to him, and he hopped he would take it. Fire was one of the more obviously dangerous powers, and it would need a lot of teaching. But from what he had seen, most powers could be trained with the same foundation. If given a chance, Francis knew he wanted to study powers.... not the way the scientists did, but to see how best to train them to be controlled...to best make use of natural abilities. For these mostly weren't curses, they were natural talents like cooking or sewing... ones that just had to be trained. He wanted to see if some of these powers had the basic fundamentals, if they could be lumped together in different groups to be... something. That much he hadn't figured out yet. But he knew this was in vein and this hope and idea would never come to past.

"Ludwig, are you still having problems with your powers? Would you like me to try to help? I promise to keep it secret"