If I Die Young

[Beau LaRoux]

{happens immediately after this thread}

Beau had volunteered to protect the school. he'd done that when he'd stepped up to join the Security Squad and then repeated it when he'd gone into that auditorium. He'd always wanted to protect everyone, to keep as many people safe as he could. Bellefonte had become his home for so many reasons, and you did what you could to protect your home. That had always been his reasoning, what he kept convincing himself was the truth. Now though, now it had all become so very, very real. Erika had been kidnapped, likely tortured. So had Trevor Paige, who Beau hadn't even really heard of, and Frank Cox, known for being a big ball of positive, and Solkat Suin, and a few others. They'd been tortured, and of course the school wasn't letting that stand.

What were the chances that SPECTRE let it stand in return? Slim to none, and Beau didn't like those odds. He specially didn't like those odds when it left him with a cold blonde, a calculating man, and a handful of others that he just wasn't sure of. They could die. They were the front line folks, the ones to stand as a shield before everyone else.

Beau knew, knew with crystal clarity, why he was doing this, why this place was his home, why he felt he had to put his life on the line. So, yeah, he'd done what had been ordered/suggested and ran to get what he felt he'd need to do his job. But it wasn't like he had weapons or armor to put on: just a jean jacket and a shirt, and what Elsa had already provided, a sort of protective armored thing that was sort of like a bulletproof vest. he felt weird wearing it under his jacket though. He'd grabbed something too: a treble clef he'd shaped out of a penny and quarter. He ran his hands over it, desperately looking for someone, wanting to get her as close to safety as he could. Where was she...?

There, in the lounge, with a handful of people, all talking. Beau didn't waste time: he walked up to Liz, tapped her to  get her attention, and jerked his thumb, obviously wanting, technically needing, to pull her aside for a bit. He had to get through this, and it had to be done now, just in case.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Even with the hype of prom still creating a huge buzz in Elizabeth's mind, hearing what had happened to some students had her shook. Even though Erika was the only one she knew personally, having lost anyone at all in the first place was a shock to her. It was messing up her abilities a little bit. Or rather her concentration in controlling it. Either way, hearing everyone talking about it didn't assuage her worry.

Sure they were rumours but for how long would they stay that way?

The first person she wanted around her right then was Beau and her fingers were already on her cell phone, ready to call but she was then trying to comfort a younger student who had known someone who had been taken so she couldn't really reach him.

But not long after she finally got the younger student to stop crying, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, relief washed over her face and she immediately followed him out of the lounge.

She didn't waste much time in showing how relieved she was that he was okay as she threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight in her arms. "What's happening?" She asked as she let him go after a while.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau stared for a few seconds. He had her; he'd pulled her out into the hall. She'd hugged him. They were there. Then she'd asked him that question after she let him go. He rubbed at the back of his head. He took a deep breath. He looked down. He looked to Liz. She knew that something was up; he'd texted her about the meeting. Everyone technically knew about the meeting.

"They're goin' after SPECTRE," he said, figuring he might as well tell her some variation on the truth. He wasn't going to say who they were or anything. He took a deep breath, lowering his arm. "an' I'm--look," he met Liz's gaze. "I need ya to stay here. No, wait, that ain't a good plan," he rubbed at his face. He wasn't positive they were going to attack but, but there was a chance and, and he just couldn't risk that kind of chance. "Take a few people an' get them somewhere safe, somewhere that ain't the dorm. I'm---we're gonna hole up here, I'm thinkin', but..." he trailed off, not sure what else to say, not sure what else he could say. He was supposed to be heading down to meet already, with Roxana and whomever else had gotten pulled for this whole crazy thing.

[Elizabeth Edison]

His uncertainty was killing her and all she could think of was the worst. Her mind jumped to the worst conclusion in times like these and his avoiding her gaze didn't help matters.

When he started to speak, Elizabeth flared up at the thought of staying at the scene of the crime. Well, alleged crime. Beau was being vague but the rumours she had been hearing coupled with what he was saying and the way he was saying it was enough for her to draw her own conclusions.

But then he took another course of action and she tried to breathe calmly. "W-where are we supposed to go?" She asked, her hand gripping Beau's sleeve tightly. "Wait...you're going with me." She looked up into Beau's eyes expectantly. "We're going together, right?"

[Beau LaRoux]

"Somewhere else! I dunno, the music room, maybe?" asked Beau, waving his hand, bringing it to rub at his face. She was tugging at his sleeve; he didn't want to move his hand away. Moving his hand away would mean facing Liz as she looked up at him. Beau could feel those eyes looking up at him, feel the expectation even without actually looking directly at them. He sighed and lowered his hand, meeting them.

"We can't," he said, simply, even though he knew it wasn't simple. "I'm on the Squad, remember? Fightin' to protect the school an' stuff? There's a few other people too, we're jus' settin' up. Ain't nothin' to worry 'bout. Heck, you probly don't even have to go anywhere yet. Jus' wait here an' hope that we don't give the order or nothin',' Beau shrugged, sticking his hand into his pocket. He felt the metallic object there and drew it out, staring at it for a while. He'd made that, albeit with someone else's powers, and he'd known pretty much the moment he had what he was going to do with it.

Beau reached for Liz's hand, pulled it up, dropped the metallic clef into it, and closed it around the charm, giving her a few pats. "Here, keep that safe for me. I was meanin' to give it to you anyway," he smiled, "made it myself."

[Elizabeth Edison]

She winced a bit at his answer, looking away to hide the hurt. She knew he didn't mean to raise his voice. She knew it was obviously because they were in such a vulnerable situation. It made sense that he was panicking.

Elizabeth had to remind herself that this was not about her. She looked back up at him and tried to remain calm. Until he told her that he wasn't going to be with her.

"No. Wait, Beau no." She panicked, her grip tightening on Beau's sleeve. His reassurance that they might not even have to go anywhere didn't calm her down. "But you can't be out there! Not without me!" She tugged at Beau's sleeve repeatedly, trying to keep her voice level.

Her panic was now on quite another level. A rather personal one that she didn't want to divulge. At least not then. There were way too many things going on already and she didn't want this to be about something else.

Drawing in a breath as her hand was pulled towards him, Elizabeth's eyes fell down to their joined hands and caught a glimpse of the charm. Her breath stuck for a beat before she circled her arms around him tightly. "Damn it, LaRoux. Why the hell did you sign up for...what am I asking?" She released him and punched him against his shoulder. "You and your white knight complex." She mumbled.

Unfurling her fist, she looked down at the charm again and smiled shakily.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau could feel the panic, both coming from that voice that he'd learned to master and from the grip on his shirt. Don't go out there, not without her... but that was the point. She couldn't be out there with him, because Beau would be far too focused on... Hell, he had to tell her.... he could just feel that panic building, and it didn't dim much as he placed the little charm into her hand, that thing he'd made out of a penny and a quarter and a borrowed metalshaping power. He'd signed up; why was she surprised?

"I'm a musician, not a knight," he replied, repeating the same thing he'd thought in the auditorium just a few minutes ago. He reached behind his head, rubbing at his head again, as if that could somehow make this easier. He could see the little charm in her hand as he looked down, saw it and fidgeted. He worked his lips for a bit, wetting them as he did whenever he knew he had to use his voice well. "Liz, I--you can't be out there. I ain't jus' talkin' 'bout the trainin' or whatever, an' it ain't that I don't think you can handle yourself. Heck, you might even do better than I would. It's jus'---I don't think I could be out there an' workin' to protect everyone if you were there too. I'd be too worried 'bout you. Whole damn buildin' could go up so long as I made sure you were safe,' he licked his lips again, "so I'm kinda askin' you to stay in the buildin', so I can protect it too, I guess."

Did that sound as lame to her as it did to him? Because Beau felt so very, very lame right now.

[Elizabeth Edison]

"That's my point though Beau!" She hissed urgently. His power was both an offensive and defensive one but only if he were around the proper people. What if nobody was around? He could end up being ridiculously vulnerable. "You're supposed to belt out tunes, not use your belt on people." She bit her lower lip and forced herself not to cry. This wasn't the time.

The moment he started talking again, Elizabeth couldn't hear anything else. She felt a whole barrage of emotions as she looked up at him while he spoke. She didn't know what to make of it because what she wanted was probably not what he was meant. But she felt it was stupidly selfish of her to even think about that at a time like this.

But when else?

Yes, she had to believe this wasn't going to end up bad. The school wouldn't put their trust in students if it was dangerous, right? He could come out of this safe. She had time. He could come back to her in one piece and then she could-

Oh screw it.

Bunching up the front of Beau's shirt and pulling him close, Elizabeth pressed her lips against his, her breathing shallow through her nose as she wrapped one arm around him. She was still holding back tears but she knew she had to move away. Beau had to leave. She had to let him go.

She was breathless when she did so, wrapping both her arms around him, the charm still squeezed in her hand. "Don't you dare get hurt." She whispered into his ears.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau probably would've mentioned that he really wasn't much of a belt guy, but the conversation had already progressed passed that point by the time he even thought about it. So soon he was vomiting up all those words, feeling like they'd come from somewhere deep within and had only just been kept from hearing by sheer willpower alone.

This wouldn't end up badly. He'd come back; they'd go to prom, and things would be...

Then Liz pulled him close, and Beau seemed to instinctively knew what happened next. He leaned into it, pressing his lips on hers. He swore that heat leapt between them, literal sparks brought about by some strange chemical reaction that no one could really understand. He could hear Liz's shallow, shaky breaths just barely sounding over the thudding of his own heart. An arm went around him; his arms went around he waist, pulling her close. The moment eclipsed, their lips communicating the feeling better than their words ever really could. They both knew they had to part, and both knew that neither really wanted to. Too much clicked into place in that moment, and it felt almost unfair that it had to end.

But it did, with Beau parting adn looking at Liz, nearly as breathless as her. Her arms around him, his around her, words whispered in his ear. He gave her a squeeze, turning to whisper back into her ear: "Ain't the plan," his own voice a little shaky. He was facing bullets and who knew what else to protect people. "They probly ain't gonna do nothin' anyway, an' we'll be laughin' 'bout how worked up we're gettin'," he finished, moving to tuck some of Liz's hair behind an ear, smiling down at her.

"So jus' worry 'bout gettin' yourself safe, alright?"

[Elizabeth Edison]

She only realised what she had done when they parted from each other but thankfully she had no time to make things awkward. And the thing was, it didn't feel awkward. It felt way too natural and...well, good.

Reaching up to press her palm up against his cheek, Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at his response. "Yeah. Probably." She nodded, realising that she was definitely getting worked up over what could potentially be nothing.

"Yeah." She nodded again in response to his last words. "If you have time, keep me updated." She patted her jeans pocket to indicate her phone and stepped away from Beau.

She gave him a little wave and moved away, looking for people to start gathering everybody else to move.

[Beau LaRoux]

A palm pressed against Beau's cheek, and that also felt more than natural. Probably nothing, well, what he was facing, not this, this felt like something, but it felt like something... right, like this had always been meant to happen and it had just been their own mulishness standing in the way of it all.

Yeah, keep her updated, Beau nodded again, patting his own pocket. "You'd better stay safe! We still gotta make it to prom!" he called after her, raising a hand. I'm taking her to prom, He realized then. And we just kissed and it felt good, natural and stuff, like we'd been dating forever or---nah, nah, don't even think too much on it Beau, an' definitely don't think that. You ain't one for gettin' in your head; jus' leave that for poets an' such.

So Beau nodded, sticking his hands into his pockets. Without thinking about it, he drew his phone out and typed a quick text: "I'm still ok," and sent it. he slid it back into his pocket, walking away, toward what he just knew was gonna end up being one of the worst moments of his life, knowing that he'd just walked away from one of the best.