Sebastian rejected numerous different plans to contact the bug girl. Showing up and telling the truth, that he had seen her online movie, seemed like it would just scare her away. He rejected that idea right away. Likewise, calling her with a job offer to work at a church, with what Malako had said about her background, she'd hang up before he could even finish his sentence.

No, what he needed was a situation that would cultivate total trust in him.

Such as saving her life.

-------------------------------

Sebastian watched from across the street at Agnes entered the park. He dialed a number on his phone, exchanged a few words, then hung up. He bought a coffee from a vendor on the corner, then wandered slowly into the park in the same direction the bug manipulator had gone.

-------------------------------

Getting paid ahead of time to mug someone: this was officially the best job Eddie had ever gotten. All he had to do was wear a bit of religious bling and rough up a little mutant girl a little and he'd be paid a even more. This was going to be a piece of cake.

Francis thought it was kind of cheesy that some guy had wanted to play hero with his girlfriend or whatever, but he wasn't about to say no to that kind of money, even if it meant he had to pretend to lose a fight to some clown with a horn on his head.

Darryl grinned behind a a wisp a cigarette smoke. Give a mutie chick a hard time? Hell, he'd have done that for free. He tossed his cigarette on the ground and didn't bother stepping on it to put it out.

“Hey, you're that bug chick from online, aren't you? What's a pretty like freak like you doing way out here by yourself?”

Today was going to be a good day. Agnes could feel it in her bones. So far, most of her days have been a little difficult. She was still getting used to her new physiology and the appearance of Rebecca Grey at the mansion had thrown her for a small loop, but Agnes had decided to stop wallowing in agony at the mansion. She needed to get out, she needed to see a wide expanse of open space, she needed to breathe. And that was her main reasoning for being out at the park, taking a stroll with her violin and case in tow. A chance to recharge, to think, to clear her head of all the confusing cobwebs that had decided to string themselves from one side of the interior of her skull to the other.

The grass felt warm, yet soft, the sun beat from high above, sparkling in one tiny part of her eyes that momentarily blinded her from that part of her field of vision. But most of all, despite the chill in the air, Agnes was thankful that the sun had felt warm on her skin. So very warm…so very reinvigorating…

But she was so enraptured in her escape from her issues at home that Agnes did not bother to look where she was walking. Now, since she lived on the streets for a rather hefty amount of time, Agnes developed a natural skiddishness around people she did not know, especially thug-looking men. Being homeless, she had to defend herself plenty of times from people like that and that sense of paranoia simply rolled over with her life.

Sadly, a whirlwind of thoughts, the sun in her eyes, and her inability to pay attention at the moment were what tangled the unbeknownst bug girl into a den of wolf-spiders.

>> “Hey, you're that bug chick from online, aren't you? What's a pretty like freak like you doing way out here by yourself?”

Agnes was so startled by the sudden voice that she nearly dropped her violin case. She blinked a couple times as she looked at the men that had suddenly implanted themselves in the direction she had been travelling. None of them really looked friendly. As a matter of fact they looked exactly like the type of people that she would have avoided if she were still skittering around alleyways.

Nervously, Agnes felt her wings flutter against the fabric of her denim jacket that Gina had helped to alter to accommodate the new additions to her body. Their iridescent surfaces cast a small, rainbow like sparkle near the corners of her eyes, but she could not take the time to admire them. Instead she felt a small spark of fear slowly grow into an inferno as she watched the newcomers cautiously. She knew she shouldn’t show fear, but it was quickly becoming apparent that it was too late for that.

She calmed her wings and rested them against her back, but already she could feel the buzzing beginning to resound inside of her chest.

“Back off,” was all she could meekly say as she attempted to start to back away. “I…I don’t want problems…”

Eddie chuckled and spun a bat around in his hands, adrenaline already pumping. An eye on a cross pendant that hung from his neck flashed in the sunlight.

“Didn't your mommy tell you never to talk to strangers? Or did she just figure you were so strange yourself it wouldn't matter” Francis curled his fingers into fists that were decorated in metal just as shiny as the matching pendant that hung from his neck.

“You see, you may not want any problems, but I figure we've already got one big problem. An abomination, really. And I think we're going to have to take care of it.” A long knife flashed in his hand as he sprung forward.

As if Darryl's words were a code, all three thugs moved forward at once. Francis, with his brass knuckles went straight up the middle of the path, aiming for the girl's stomach. The other two went wide, one around each side of her, swinging inward with their weapons.

Agnes continued to back away. Judging by the looks on these psychos faces, it was obvious that stern language and shaky voice were not going to combine well to repel them. The runaway could have almost kicked herself for not being more prepared for this. She should have known better than to not watch where she was going. She was getting too soft living at the mansi—

She paused in her thoughts when suddenly something shiny caught her eye. Now was clearly not the time to admire glittering jewelry but she could not help it. It took only a fraction of a second for her eye glance, process, and recognize the pendent that the trio wore. After that, there was only half a second where Agnes could not believe it. She could not accept it. But slowly it began to spill down from the back of her skull, creepy along her flesh and tightening all of her muscles as sheer panic began to settle.

Heart racing…cold sweat dripping…shortness of breath…

It was the symbol of her parents. The symbol of the Church of the Everlasting Eye of God…her parents church!

“N-No…” she whimpered…

>> “Didn't your mommy tell you never to talk to strangers? Or did she just figure you were so strange yourself it wouldn't matter”

They stepped forward…she stepped back…

>> “You see, you may not want any problems, but I figure we've already got one big problem. An abomination, really. And I think we're going to have to take care of it.”

Agnes felt her voice catch in her throat. She was still so disoriented by the sight of the pendants that they wore that she barely noticed the trio bum rushing her. Instinct took over, at that point. Instinct from when she was homeless: defend self, escape, preserve life. Those were her three objections and she had to achieve them by any course necessary.


Suddenly she lifted her violin case, a heavy thing and swung it out at the nearest attacker, someone with a baseball bat. She barely had time to register hearing his nose crush as she began to back away in erratically. It then that she felt some of the worst pain she’d felt in a long time. A crush, brass knuckled punch had been delivered to her stomach and Agnes went down like a fallen sack of potatoes. She wanted to cry out, to whimper, to scream, but every inch of air had left her lungs.

Crumpled, she heard their rushing feet and knew that there was only one thing she could do. Her heart racing, her panic reaching a crescendo, she reached into the deepest terrors of her heart and her body reacted accordingly.

The buzz was quite deafening as Agnes suddenly retched and out spew a veritable plague of insects. Flies and wasps angrily buzzed in a thick cloud around her while roaches fell to ground and hissed as they swarmed around her curled up posture. Her wings then fluttered an a primordial cry of pain fell from her lips and suddenly buzzing could be heard getting loud as neighboring flies began to buzz closer to join the ranks.

One insect alone is easy to step on and look past. But a swarm…that was different. Their queen was in danger and this swarm’s only task was to protect her…

When she hit him in the nose, Eddie called her something that that was not very complimentary to her gender. He couldn't help it, she'd broken his nose with a violin.

And then there were insects pouring out of her mouth in the most freaky way imaginable: swarms of them. Eddie backed away, swatting frantically at bugs and looking right, then left down the pathway for something to come save him.

“Damn idiot, knock her out and you'll kill the bugs, too,” Francis yelled as he took another swing, but was pulled up a little short when a particularly ingenious hornet chose that moment to sting him in the eyelid.

Darryl didn't waste time talking, he just tried to get as close to the girl as he could get, so he could stab her in the side. She really was an abomination, and the world really would be better off without her on it. Screw the unicorn asshole, they could take care of him after they took care of his buggy bitch.

That was, of course, unless the unicorn asshole and his swords had something to say about the matter.

The knife went clattering across the sidewalk where it immediately disappeared under a blanked of flat brown insects. Darryl's hand was left bloody. Without a weapon, he was the first to turn and run away.

Now it was two on two. Or one on two, as Agnes seemed to be incapacitated for the moment. Or possibly a million on two. Eddie bravely pointed his bat at Sebastian and yelled over the buzzing, “Give us all your money, or we'll do the same to you!”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Sebastian winced as several of the bees turned to sting him, too. Ice welled up beneath his skin to cool the sting from within, but it still hurt. He ignored the pain and did a flashy maneuver with his twin swords that was more intimidating than threatening. The teenage punks stared slackjawed for a moment, then broke and ran. As soon as they turned tail, Sebastian sheathed his swords and knelt next to the prone woman.

“Are you alright?” The insects were still buzzing in an angry cloud all around them. “May I heal you?”

The insects defended the hive mother. They swarmed on masse, they struck, stung and buffeted anyone who dared to get too close to her. They undulated and spun in mid-air as in a thick cloud of black and yellow, dangerous buzzing in anger as they sought out the closely moving object. They were in no way messing around and in Agnes injured state, she doubted she really could have quelled them, even if she wanted to. At the moment she didn’t. They said some pretty harsh things and they had laid their hands upon her. Agnes was in no way having that…

Secretly, maybe subconsciously, she willed those insects to incur as much damage as they could to those bastards that were planning on harming her. They had to be thugs from her mother’s church. Why else would they be wearing those pendants? They wanted to take revenge on her, maybe try to carry out her mother’s last wish that the exorcism be completed.

She was not going back. She was not subjecting herself to that. They needed to be stopped and she would stop them if she had it in her to do so.

The angry cloud buzzed and lashed out. Through weak eyes she saw one of them cradling his broken nose as blood spilled out while the other two were being deflected by the mass of insects. One screamed as he was stung somewhere sensitive but another one, he was pushing through it. No matter how many flies crawled through his facial cavities, how may stings were delivered, however many roaches crawled upon his limps, he kept coming.

Agnes had turned and focused her attention on him, just in time to see that flash of silver. The knife that was poised, ready to strike her dead. She wanted to get up and move, she wanted to so badly, but the air was only not coming back into her body through her fierce coughing. She could barely keep herself breathing properly.

A tear rolled down her cheek. Was this it?

Clllllliiing-Clang!!

She heard arguing and the shuffling of more steps. Still holding her definitely brusing stomach, she gasped as she struggled to keep her insects nearby. She could not actually command them to do a specific task but she could nudge them in the direction she wanted to them follow. For now she needed them mad and she needed them nearby because she really did not want to die here.

But as she willed them…Agnes hear more footsteps and the gentle, caring voice of someone nearby…

>> “Are you alright?...May I heal you?”

That voice, it was so trusting sounding. For a second Agnes didn’t know if she should trust it, but considering the amount of pain that she was in, and the fact that she was not dead, she decided it better to accept the help than to be utterly suspicious. Besides, if he were still hanging around with the bugs swarming, then he was obviously not scared off. Maybe he was just concerned.

She paused…then nodded her head with a painful whimper. Yet, even through her pain she ground her teeth as she concentrated on calming down. Slowly her swarm began to acknowledge and many fluttered off aimlessly while the few that actually came from her body simply hovered by as if waiting for the order to attack.

Agnes lifted her sad, crystal blue eyes to the man who had aided her…and spotted the unicorn horn.

“T-Thank you…” was all she could harshly whisper before she fell into another fit of coughing. God, did that bastard puncture one of the insect sacs in her chest? It hurt…so bad…

The stinging seemed to lessen after he asked his question, the girl looked up at him and it was obvious that she was in terrible pain. Her words were barely a whisper, as if speaking itself was difficult.

>>“T-Thank you...”

That cough of hers didn't sound too good either.

I'm sorry this was necessary, he thought as he lay his hands on her. Immediately the icy power that was within him spread through his fingers and into her body. Sebastian felt her body as if it was his, felt her pain as if he were the one injured. Then he felt the freezing burn come to take it away.

The tendrils of cold knit the skin at her side back together, rewove the lining of the sac in her chest, pulled severed muscles and veins back together again, and soothed the bruises in her organs. Then they went after her other hurts: smaller ones and older ones. The cold spread throughout her body, finding and erasing the numerous lines on her arms and legs left by sharp knives. It pooled in her back, removing the lash marks, and finally went to her stomach and froze away the ugly cross scar burned into her skin.

Sebastian's eyebrows raised with surprise, then furrowed with anger at just how many scars she had. He had found out a good deal about her past, but it became all the more real when he felt all her scars for himself. No child deserved to be hurt like that. Especially not by their own parents.

As soon as his powers had faded back into himself he held out his hand to her, asking, “Are you alright?”

Agnes was not entirely sure what she expected. She was just harmed pretty brutally in the park by men that were a part of her parent’s church. She would have died. This slab of concrete she sat upon would have been the final spot on earth she would ever inhabit. The rough texture of the concrete, the coolness of the ground, the pain that spider-webbed throughout her body, all those would have been her finally sensations; those and the fear that had managed to worm its way directly into her heart.

But none of that came to pass. And all because of a sword-wielding, white-haired stranger. She had muttered her thank you. She vaguely remembered that he had asked her about healing but she had assumed he was simply going to take her to the hospital. Instead though, she was not prepared for what followed.

He rested his hands on her and for a second fear welled up. Maybe he didn’t have as good of intentions as she had originally thought. But those notions quickly vanished the second she felt that icy cold seep though out her body. She shivered, feeling it crawling into the very fiber of her being and begin to have an effect on her body. The heat waves of pain that emanated from various spots throughout were chilled by the iciness from the man’s fingers. It were always as if he were actually reaching into the depths of her heart and spreading cold water under her skin.

She gasped and shivered more but before long he was done and leaned away from her. Agnes instinctively hugged herself, feeling a chill but that was the strange thing; the chill was all she felt.

Shocked she rested her hands on her stomach and immediately felt that the pain was gone where the man had punched her with brass knuckles.

>> “Are you alright?”

Still bewildered, at first she said nothing as she breathed in and immediately no longer felt the ruptured bug sac that she was sure was within her chest mere moments ago. Now…she seemed completely and utterly fine.

Blues eyes turned and locked on the man with the unicorn horn and she could only nod her head meekly.

“I…I…feel good…” she said. It was almost as if she knew that notion was not correct. She should have been in more pain. But this man saved her… “How…D-Did you…? I…I don’t know how to thank you…”

“I'm terribly sorry this had to happen to you. Please, let me walk you to safety; it would put me more at ease.”

He was sorry, too, but this had been the best way to earn her trust.

He offered his arm to the young lady, ready to walk her to wherever she wished to go, or to simply walk if that was her intention. He eyed the swarms of insects that still circled and wondered where they would go once they felt their queen was no longer in danger. A few of the hornets still looked angry enough to sting, but perhaps, being hornets, they couldn't help it.

“Please pardon my asking, but what happened to you? Before, I mean.” Sebastian clarified, “You had so many scars for one so young.” Had, of course, in the past tense; she no longer had any scars at all, except for mental ones.

>> “I'm terribly sorry this had to happen to you. Please, let me walk you to safety; it would put me more at ease.”

Agnes blushed as she watched the handsome man move onto his feet and offer his arm. Agnes was feeling much better now and she was sure that she could have made it home the second that she got up, but for whatever reason she did not want to seem rude. Maybe it was because he saved her life, maybe because she was still scared that cronies from her parents old church were around, but she did not really want to be alone. Instead all she wanted to do was to get back home before things got out of hand.

Maybe detective Cervantes would have answers? He had promised her parents were never come back. Hmm, she could definitely have to give him a call.

But in the here and now, Agnes smiled a little appreciatively as she stood up from the ground and very slowly took the man’s arm. She was still suspicious, as was her natural inclination, but she at least owed the man a chance at her trust. He did save her.

“T-Thank you,” she said again. “I…I was just coming to the park to play my violin,” she muttered as she held up the violin show him. “But…I think maybe I should just go back to the bus stop and go home.”

She did not want to let anything her parents did have sway over her actions, but there was little she could do about it now. She simply wanted her bed and to hug Gina and jasmine…maybe Rebecca too.

Shaking thoughts away she began to walk with the man when he suddenly asked her a question that caused her to tilt her head.

>> “Please pardon my asking, but what happened to you? Before, I mean…You had so many scars for one so young.”

She arched her brows in confusion. She was thrown because she had no idea what the man was talking about; well she did, but it was more like she did not know how he could have known anything about it. After all, she had never met him before so how could he have known anything about her scars? Quietly Agnes began to shake her head.

“Scars? How…could you kno—“ she paused again when one word from that sentence pierced through her already confusing fog of thoughts. “Had”. If he did know about her scars then how come he said had?

Unconsciously her hand moved to her stomach in order to brush against that familiar, large, ugly scar that was always in the back of her mind. No matter what she wore she could feel branded crucifix through the material. But this time…proved to be shockingly different. Her hand grazing her stomach, all she felt was the fabric of her shirt as it scraped against the smooth skin of her abdomen. And it was in that second that her mind froze up. The very act of not feeling her scars, especially that massive one, was enough to give pause to whatever she was doing.

Her heart raced as she stepped away from the man and ran her free hand across her shirt covered stomach again and again, feeling absolutely nothing. She had half a mind to peel off her shirt and take a look but she knew that that was not right when being in public. So instead she simply help her bare hand where the large crucifix used to be.

“I…I…I don’t understand…” Agnes whispered as her mind began to run the scenario frantically about in her mind. “My s-scars…what happened to my scars…?”

She played violin? In the park?

“I know of a nice quiet place where you could practice. It has great acoustics.” There wasn't anything quite like the way music sounded in a sanctuary. “It's also much safer than the park.”

Not that he had any ulterior motives for getting her to go there. Just like he didn't have any ulterior motives for healing her scars.

“When I healed you, I healed every part of you including all your scars. At least, all the physical ones,” he smiled gently, knowingly. There were, of course, some scars that he could not heal, the emotional and mental scars she must have sustained from receiving those scars.

He still wasn't entirely sure how she would react to losing those scars. Some people would be relieved, while others were generally proud of the scars as if they were badges proving how strong they were for surviving getting them. Neither was he sure how she'd react to her attack. Some people panicked afterwards, while others went into shock. Even though she wasn't injured, it did not insure that she wouldn't have other negative consequences. She shouldn't be left alone for awhile.

“Are you going to be alright?” Mentally, that was. “Do you want to talk about it at all?” He was totally willing to listen to whatever she wanted to share. “Sebastian Csendes, listener extraordinaire, at your service.” He inclined his head in the best semi-bow he could while she was still clinging to his arm.

>> “I know of a nice quiet place where you could practice. It has great acoustics…It's also much safer than the park.”

The question had fallen on deaf ears. Agnes had never even gotten a chance to answer it because she was still in too much shock over what happened with her scars. Though she did not lift her shirt, she did reach underneath to brush her fingers across her stomach, to where she knew exactly where the large crucifix was branded into. And right there, she felt absolutely nothing but smooth skin.

>> “When I healed you, I healed every part of you including all your scars. At least, all the physical ones,”

The concept of being physically scarless shook her entire world. Her parents had branded her, driven her out into the streets and that scar had always remained as a reminder of that. And now, all of a sudden…it was all washed away.

How did he…not even DocProf had been able to heal her scars. At least she never asked him to…could he have? All this time? Could he had rid of her parents reminder of what they did and…god forbid, just never did?

Still a little in shock she shifted her gaze back to the white-haired man as he looked her over.

>> “Are you going to be alright? Do you want to talk about it at all? Sebastian Csendes, listener extraordinaire, at your service.”

Meekly Agnes nodded. She was very slowly beginning to dig herself out of the storm of confusion that had decided to overtake her mind. She really did not know what to think right now, other than how things had changed. Her scars, as much as she did not want to admit it, had formed a great deal of her identity. They were the reason she ran from her home, why she shied away from people, why she wanted nothing but a normal life! But, now, all of a sudden, they were banished. Erased as if they were nothing but mistakes made on a sheet of paper.

She blinked, though, when she released that the man had finally introduced himself; Sebastian Csendes. She had never heard a name like that before, really. Her fog of shocked lifted enough for her to note that he was bowing towards her, in a way that just exuded elegance and manner. For the briefest of seconds Agnes found herself breathless. He certainly was pretty, but she was not attracted to him that in way. No, instead he just seemed to have to aura about him that gave him a more heavenly appearance.

He was like…an avenging angel that her parents used to always talk about now standing before her. It also helped to strengthen that notion that he had performed the miracle of healing her.

Another blink and she realized that she had yet to introduce herself. Moisture found its way back into her mouth as she pulled herself out of her shock.

“A-Agnes…Agnes Nicholas,” she muttered. But her head bowed at his previous questions. “I…I…don’t know. I…don’t like talking about it…”

Sebastian nodded understandingly. Those terrible, traumatic things were hard to talk about, especially when they were fresh and especially after an event that dredged up those memories once again. That was his own fault.

“Talking about those things, getting them out into the open, it's the only way to heal that kind of wound. You can't bury it inside or it will fester and cause you even more damage.”

They were taking it slow, retracing her path back to the edge of the park, her mind seemed to be elsewhere and Sebastian wasn't going to rush her along.

“You should talk about it with someone that you trust first.” It didn't have to be him, but she should do it at some point if she hadn't already. “Then, each time you talk about it, it gets easier. The pain goes away a little at a time, a little with each telling.”

Agnes still felt like her mind was going an absolute mile a minute. What the hell was happening today? First lackey’s from her parent’s church showed up with a mind to kill her, then this white haired, angelic-like man appears and not only saves her, but erases her most heinous scars from her body! So much was happening at one time that she was still having a hard time wrapping her head around it. But slowly she was beginning to calm down. That was at least a start, right? Allowing herself to breathe again?

She shuddered she brushed her hands across her stomach again. Nope, she still could not feel the scars. This definitely was not a dream, as much as her mind wanted it to turn out to be. Did her life really change in this way? Not that she was vain or anything, but simply because her scars were always a reminder.

Now that they were gone…she wouldn’t have to worry about them. She was…free? That word made her pause a little in shock. She never imagined she would ever truly be free from her parents but…it was really looking like it was going to happen.

They strolled on, Agnes following next to the white-haired man, as she tried to remember to breathe.

>> “Talking about those things, getting them out into the open, it's the only way to heal that kind of wound. You can't bury it inside or it will fester and cause you even more damage.”

Not something the runaway had not heard before. It was common sense. The more she talked about it, the more she tried to understand it, the better she would eventually feel. But her life on the streets had taught her to be secretive, to protect herself. It was hard to remember that she did not need to be so guarded anymore.

>> “You should talk about it with someone that you trust first…Then, each time you talk about it, it gets easier. The pain goes away a little at a time, a little with each telling.”

“I…I have…” she whispered. Maybe a little too meekly for the man to hear her, but she could not help the tone of her voice. “I’ve…told people. The police even…”

Gina, Sveta, Ms. Taylor, Detective Cervantes, Rhythm, she told them all. Their faces all flashed across her’s in remembrance. They were good listeners, each and everyone one of them. And it was because of them that she was still standing here, safe from her parent’s grasp. Or…so she thought.

She sighed, blinked towards the man with tears stinging the corners of her eyes.

“My parents…t-they’re in jail. D-Detective Cervantes…he said I was safe from them. He..promised me…” she whispered. “It would never happen again.” She sighed, already tired of this exchange, but she knew that she had to continue. It was too late to stop now. “T-They…were religious fanatics. They tried to exorcize me…when my powers developed. But…they’re in jail…their followers…t-they shouldn’t have found me…”

“Good,” he encouraged her when she admitted she'd already told a number of people, and now she could add one more to the list. It was still difficult for her to talk about, but slowly she was healing.

“Religion has a way of spreading,” he admitted. “It may be that they weren't even part of the same group that hurt you initially, but heard about the sect from another source. There could be more in other cities, too. Who knows? They could have just been targeting you because they recognized you as a mutant somehow, not because of what happened with your parents.”

The words 'your parents' practically dripped with disdain. Parents shouldn't be able to hurt their children like that. It was unnatural. Not that Sebastian had ever had children before, but he could imagine how he would feel about them if he had. He would probably be affectionate, no matter what they looked like or whether they were mutants or not.

“Parents like that... we live in such a broken world. Parents doing violence to their own children is inexcusable. It shouldn't happen. It shouldn't be allowed to happen.” He was trying to convince her, but his anger with the world wasn't an act. He really did believe that parts of their world were broken beyond repair. He sincerely hoped that what he was doing now could help right things.