Right, he had sat down. That was a start. Now to figure out what the heck was wrong. Something to do with snow. Actually, come to think of it, Aiden had reacted similarly to the whole car crash thing too. Not as extreme though. Possibly related. He'd piece it together properly when he needed to, for now he needed to get Aiden out of the situation, and into a secure environment.

Spose we're going back to the mansion.

Right, well, action was required sooner rather than later. "Persi, reckon you can carry the pizzas for us? We need to get Aiden back to the mansion." It was pretty much the only place he could think of as far as safe and secure.

Might have to chat to Aiden about this. Probably not going to be a happy chat.

Cafas stood, folding his box closed. "Aiden, come with me." He picked the boy up, back onto his feet. He tried not to hurt him, but some force was required. One hand on Aiden's shoulder he began to steer the boy to the door, exerting just enough force to let Aiden know he was there. Hopefully it would keep him from running.

Outside a cab had just pulled up. Cafas recognised the cabby. That guy always seemed to know exactly when and where he was needed.

"Yeah." Carrying pizza was not exactly a difficult task, although reaching them while staying in Aiden's way was a little more difficult. Persi hesitated until Cafas seemed to be in Aiden's way, then left for the counter to ask for a box for the pizza. He figured they could all go in the same box; it wasn't like they wouldn't fit, and there was no need to make the restaurant give them three, since the restaurant paid for the boxes and they weren't. Plus, they had two boxes right by the counter, but they would've had to go get a third, so only one was faster.

The pizza fit just fine into the box, though it was fairly close to full and the pizza had to overlap some. Oh well, it was pizza; it wasn't like having one slice touch the other was going to ruin them, or even be noticeable. Persi still had to hurry to catch up with Cafas and Aiden.

The cab was... awkward. And seemed even smaller than the one on the way out had seemed. Persi did his best to stay against the window and not take up any space. Keeping the pizza box from taking up any was harder; it wasn't able to squish the way people could.

Aiden didn't resist Cafas' manipulations. He barely even noticed the way his fingers dug into his flesh with enough force that he'd probably end up bruising, though a small part of him did try to comment darkly about having just sat down, on Cafas' orders, so why did he have to get up already?

However removed from the environment he was, though, his calves and feet did twitch slightly as soon as there was a clear route to the door. A vicious sort of logic descended on the movement before he could so much as shift his weight, though: even if he ran, no amount of physical running was going to get him any farther away from what he wanted to flee, from what he had really trying to get away from all this time. No matter where he went, how long he ran for, he would still carry it with him. His guilt wasn't some physical torment to be left behind with the first corner turned.

In the end, just letting Cafas push him around was easier. It probably wasn't safe for him to be making any decisions himself anyway, come to think of it. Things went bad enough when he was just involved. How much worse would they be if he were actually in charge of something? Head lowered, as if staring at the ground even though he couldn't be bothered to see it, he was in the middle of letting himself be packed into the taxi when a car ambled past in the other lane. For a moment, even in the sunlight its headlights caught the taxi's windshield and he flinched at the glare. It was just a taxi, with an experienced, New York-competent driver. If he kept to himself, nothing would happen.

With Cafas on one side and Persi and the pizza on the other, Aiden sat in a bent-shouldered huddle, elbows and knees tucked in as close as they could be. The less space he took up, the less likely he was to make things go wrong. Even if Persi was annoying at times, and Cafas was dragging him off to remedial gym - probably not anymore, though, which was really for the best - he didn't want them getting hurt or killed on his account. He drew himself in a little more, and hoped that the cab driver could handle anything that went wrong because of him.

The cab pulled up to the mansion after an uncomfortable trip. Cafas threw a fifty into the front seat and pulled Aiden out of the car gently. He walked the boy back up to his room, opened the door and led him in. He then turned to Persi. "I know you're not going to want to do this, but you gotta make sure he stay here. If you can, find out what set him off. Just, talk to him, and more importantly, listen to him."

Cafas grabbed his pizza out of the stack and turned to Aiden. "Stay here, eat something, drink something, and try to calm down. If you want to talk to me about it at some point I'll be happy to talk. If you can't find me, ask an X-man, they'll be able to contact me." Cafas nodded, happy that he'd said everything that needed saying and headed for the door. He paused in the doorway briefly. "You two did well today. Oh and Persi, breakfast is important, eat it every day, and make it a big one. The food here is free, after all." For the students anyway.

Cafas shut the door and left.