Disclaimer: All the Endless belong to DC Comics and are being used for non-profit entertainment purposes only. The other characters and the story belong to me.

Feedback is gladly accepted, flames are read and thrown away. Archiving is usually granted as long as I know where it's going.

Chance Encounter 1/?

Or We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This

by Magik

    I can see so clearly now. The shadows have lifted themselves from my head and all that's left is the warmth of the sun. In addition, I feel the raindrops on my cheeks. Freedom. It tastes so sweet.

*******

    Lyndsey Maria Truton covered her ears with her hands as Mr. Sondi smashed the tray on the table. There was a moment when unresolved tension floated in the air between the big man and the small girl huddled behind the counter, but it passed quickly. With something that was half-laugh half-grunt, Mr. Sondi laid a twenty-dollar bill on the cheap plastic tabletop and walked off. Lyn sighed, muttered something under her breath, and grabbed the money. It was going to be a long night.

    "Was he giving you trouble again?" a voice asked from behind her and Lyn turned around to find herself lost in the large, dark green eyes of Simon Marks.

    "No. He was just being himself. Get back to work," she laughed and tossed a faded dishrag at him.

    Simon caught the rag easily and shook it at her. "Who's the boss here, Lynny?"

    Lyn's small nose wrinkled at the mention of that name. She had just fixed her eyes into the perfect glare when Rose sauntered past and remarked, "Jayob needs your help, Simon."

    Rose continued walking as Simon hurried into the backroom. The short, dim green waitresses uniform almost looked good on her. It was cut short enough that Rose's long, slim legs were exposed. The top was slightly tight on her and accented her curves. Her long russet edged brown curls bobbed as she walked and her peaches and cream complexion was flawless.

    Lyn stood behind the counter scowling as she watched Rose prance around the customers, pocketing large tips and telephone numbers. She was so engrossed in her resentment that she didn't notice Rose's sharp aqua eyes on her until she snapped, "Earth to Lyndsey."

    With a sigh and a mutter in the back of her throat, Lyn stared at Rose's drawn lips and questioned, "What did I do now?"

    The older woman frowned, pursed her lips, and shot Lyndsey a look that could kill. Rose Sommers was twenty-eight. She had lived in Kletsville her whole life. The day after graduation she had strode over to Kelsey's Dinner and applied for a waitressing job.

    Ten years of her life had been devoted to this place. Ten years. Now that this...child had started working here, her whole life was going downhill rather quickly. She was not going to let her life be destroyed. Not now. Not after ten years.

    "We have customers waiting, Lyndsey. You'd better tend to them. If I catch you goofing off once more I'm going to tell Max to fire you," she ground out and then bustled away the tray on her hand perfectly balanced.

    Lyn took a glance at the entryway and saw a man simply standing there. There was a strange look about him. A kind of continence not usually found in a small town like this. His hair was long and black, his skin five times too light, and his eyes, the glimpse she caught of them, darker than night.

    There was a small rush of air behind her as Jayob walked by. "Watcha lookin' at, Lyn-Lyn?"

    "Hush, Jay," she muttered and pointed.

    Jayob's brown eyes widened. "Creepy. You want me to take him."

    The young girl let out a breath of air and steadied herself. He was only asking because he wanted to help. With a small noise at the back of her throat, Lyn turned to Jayob.

    He stood there, hands in his denim overall pockets, flannel shirt untucked and one sock missing. His slightly too short blond hair was poking into his brown eyes and the wash of fluorescent lights brought out the scar on his left cheek. The need to be protective and brotherly was caught in the sparkle in his eye and matched with the half-smile, half-frown on his face.

    "No, Jay. I have to face up to things sometimes," she told him pointedly. Jay only shrugged, tousled her hair with a hand, and walked into the backroom again.

    After taking a deep breath, Lyn walked over to where the man was standing. "Hello, sir. I'm sorry that you had to wait so long. How can I help you?"

    "No trouble at all," the man said as he looked up into Lyndsey's eyes. "I could wait forever."

    Lyn found herself lost in the depths of those eyes. The blackness surrounded her, enveloped her, consumed her until there was nothing left. Nothing. She was dead and being dead meant living in a cold, dark, damp place. As the smell of mold washed over her, Lyndsey could feel things crawling on her face.

    "No. Get away from me," she whispered hysterically as she started to back away from the man. "No. I don't want....I won't let you take me again!"

    "Child, calm down. I never meant to hurt you. Believe me. I didn't," he said soothingly and reached his hand out to calm her.

    As his long fingers brushed her skin, Lyn screamed and screamed and screamed. She became unaware of the world around her and was instead sucked into a hole of her own fear and torment.

    "Lyn? Lyndsey?" she heard her name. However, whoever was saying it was a long, long way away. The voice that spoke her name was in the light, that person was safe. Lyndsey wanted to be safe again. She reached for the light....

    Simon Marks held Lyn's limp body in his arms. With one hand, he brushed wisps of strawberry blond hair from her forehead. "Lyndsey. Come on, Lynny. You're scaring me here, girl," he whispered to her, hoping that the sound of his voice would draw her back.

    He took a long look at her. She was small, short and almost too thin. Even her hands and ears were extremely delicate. Long, layered strawberry blond hair fell around her face and pooled on the floor. Her face was pale which made the bags under her eyes even more prominent. Nevertheless, behind the closed eyelids was a pair of sparkling blue eyes that shone like nothing else on Earth.

    With a sigh, Simon shook his head. He didn't want to lose her. Not now. He had just found her.

    Lyn could feel her body again. The cold plastic floor was against her legs and a hand was smoothing out her hair. "Don't...call me Lynny," she rasped out.

    There was an audible click as Rose walked away. "She's fine. You can all get back to work now."

    Simon smiled down at Lyn. "Sorry, Lyn. You okay?"

    "Yeah. I'm fine. Can you let me up now?"

    She watched Simon blush as he realized that he was still holding her. There was an awkward moment there when neither one was sure about how to get themselves untangled. Finally, Simon just let her go and stood up.

    "Mind helping me up?" she inquired from her seat on the floor. "I'll need your hand for that." Lyn reached up. Simon grabbed hold of her hand and pulled. "Thanks," she muttered. It only took a second for Simon to tip his head in a "your welcome" gesture and hotfoot it into the backroom.

    She let her gaze follow him. Everyone called him the Gentle Giant. Simon was tall, tall like an evergreen reaching for the sky. Tall and lanky with boots that never fit and pants that were always too short. However, he was special. Just to look at him, to gaze into his watery kelly green eyes, was to behold the most wondrous thing in the world. Simon's soul was written in his eyes. The longish, thin black hair that hid his eyes from view was as soft as running water and his skin had a smooth reddish glow.

    Moreover, it was the reddish undertone that people found so important. Instead of being awed by his eyes, they were frightened by his skin. In school the other children had made fun, calling him "The Red Skinned Wonder," "The Golly Red Giant", and other cruel things like that.

    Simon had never let their words get to him. In fact most days he would laugh with them. He'd laugh as they told their Indian orphan stories and then he'd cry when no one was around. Lyn had caught him sobbing quite a few times when they were in school.

    Things were better now. The people who worked and ate at Kelsey's Dinner didn't care what Simon looked like. In a few days, Jayob and Simon had become fast friends. Max, the owner, thought of the Gentle Giant as his own son. Hell, even Rose seemed to think he was pretty cool.

    Behind her, someone cleared their throat and said, "Are you going to get back to work now?"

    Lyn turned to Rose and was just about to say something when Jay came up. "Lighten up, Rosie. The kid's just had a major fright. The least you could do is let her go on break," he commented.

    A small scowl passed over Rose's face but a second later she shook it off and shifted her tray slightly. "Okay, Jayob. She gets a half-hour break but you're watching her tables."

    "Fine with me, Rosie," he said as the older woman started to walk away. Then he gave Lyn a sly smile. "She hates that name, you know."

    "I know. How come she lets you get away with calling that?” Lyn inquired as she sat down on one of the swivel chairs at the counter.

    In front of her, Jay shrugged, suddenly growing nervous and shy. Jayob was hard to figure. One moment he'd be laughing like a hyena and the next his melancholy mood would bum out everybody. Lyn had never been able to find out what was up with that. Simon didn't even know.

    All she knew about Jay was that he was pushing thirty. No one knew whether her was older or younger than Rose and no one really cared. Jay was what he was.

    It was said that one day he had just shown up at Kelsey's years ago. Rumor was whispered through the town that he wasn't quite right in the head. After all, no normal seven-year-old child would show up on the doorstep of a dinner without any knowledge of the world. Some said that he hadn't even been able to speak, not in English anyway, when he was found.

    But no one really cared what people said. Jayob was a member of the community, a well liked citizen. His mind was sharp as a whip but he never showed it. No, Jay liked to make people happy. He liked to stand at the counter with his too short blond hair hanging in his eyes, a smile on his sharp face, and his hands in his pockets as the old ladies talked about their dead sons and grown-up daughters.

    "You okay, Lyn?" he questioned after about a minute of silence.

    She looked up into the strange brown eyes with the barely noticeable silver flecks. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

    Jayob laughed then. A laugh that was warm and rich and true. "Silly girl. My mind just floated off for a minute. I'm fine. You had me worried for a while though."

    It then clicked in Lyndsey's mind that Jay hadn't been there when she had woken up. She hadn't seen him anywhere around at all. "Where were you when I woke up."

    An unidentifiable look passed over his face. A slowly spreading ripple of surprise in his lake of calm. "I was chasing that weird guy off, Lyn-Lyn.” Something twitched deep inside his eyes, a flash of fire and water.

    "Oh," she murmured.

    "Why'd he scare you so anyway, Lyn. I know about that whole fear of strangers thing you have, but why'd that guy sent you off so?” Jay's tone was caring and sensitive but at the same time, she sensed that he wasn't going to let her get away without telling him what he wanted to know.

    Lyn took in a deep shaky breath and started to speak, "When I was seven I was kidnapped. I had gone to the park. It was raining and I was alone. From out of nowhere this man grabbed me and threw me in a van. It was dark and cold. I was wet. He had me in there for days.” She stopped for a minute to run a hand over her eyes. "He let me out after....I don't know how long. But he let me go. One day he just opened the door to that van. And the light was shinning in my eyes. He must have thought I couldn't see him, he must have figured the light would save him.

    "But I did see him. A tall man with wild black hair, pale skin, and endless dark eyes. We locked eyes for what seemed like hours, searching each other's souls for whatever might be hidden there. I was frightened. The things that were written in his eyes, on his soul. Those things were too much for me to handle. I had to get away. I had to.

    "So, I ran. I ran as fast as possible and even though I knew he wasn't chasing after me, I could hear his footsteps behind me. He walked slowly, watching me ever so carefully. The whole time he was muttering. I could hear him muttering into the wind. Calling me. Calling out my name. I never figured out how he knew my name.

    "It didn't end there. The nightmare didn't end there. I wish it had. He came to me every night in my dreams. I'd be in a silverish castle with twisting hallways and nowhere doors. And that man would be there with me, smiling and chattering to me," she continued and shook her head. "I couldn't understand him. He was speaking nonsense."

    Jay narrowed his eyebrows as Lyn mumbled on about her dreams. With one long finger, he traced the pattern on the counter. People could do such cruel things to children. In their hearts, he believed, most people were evil. The balance between the light and the dark in their souls had been irreparably tipped.

    "His image haunted me for years. And those eyes. Those eyes would burn into me, into my soul. After those dreams, I wake up cold and shaking. Too scared to utter a word, too scared to move," Lyn finished and held her trembling hands tightly together.

    "Was that him, Lyn?” Jay asked after a minute.

    A small hesitant look scampered across the girl's ashen face. "No, it wasn't him. It wasn't the man who kidnapped me but it was the man in my dreams."

    She looked up, then. Up, up into the deep brown eyes of Jayob Tuner. For a moment, time stopped and it was like she heard a song coming from his soulful gaze. A soothing, calming echo of her mother's voice. That moment faded and soon Jay was turning away from her to get back to work and the noise of the dinner blocked out any song that might have played in the wind.

End of Part One