Xavier crossed his arms over his chest as Akeli snapped at him for watching her. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and waggled his brows at her. "I can't help it. I'm a guy," he answered as he pretended to look Akeli up and down. Well, it wasn't just for the sake of pretending and at that note, he chuckled. As she shimmied the 'jumpsuit' gown down to her waist, Xavier raised his brows. Her awkwardness made him want to erupt in a fit of laughter, but he wasn't going to be rude.

"This isn't awkward for me at all," Xavier said as he grinned when Akeli blushed. He strode up to her and slipped his arms around her side, being careful not to brush his arms against her battered side. He was directly behind her and while he pulled the strip of cloth around her waist, he let his chin brush against her exposed skin on her neck. It was a subtle move and he didn't want to make Akeli feel too uncomfortable. He tied the strip of cloth into a knot and pulled backward, rounding around Akeli and giving her space after. He leaned up against a tree, the bark scraping against his bare back.

"Better?" he asked.

"And I'm going to castrate you," Akeli said with a straight face, crossing her arms and huffing. Glaring at Xavier when he shifted behind her Akeli jumped slightly when she felt him skim across her neck. "Gah!" she exclaimed loudly, feeling her cheeks grow hot. Fluttering her wings Akeli subtly smacked Xavier in the face once he was done fixing the bandage around her middle, pulling the shirt down over it with a small growl of annoyance. "No need to be fresh with me," she said, smirking lightly. Scotting away from Xavier she winked at him coyly. "Guess you don't have a shirt now," she said with evident delight, her thin frame shaking with contained laughter.

Pulling her shirt back up for a moment Akeli craned her head curiously, looking at the bandage with a nod of satisfaction. "Did you get some medical training while you were gone, Xav?" she asked, poking the knot and smiling when it didn't fall apart. But Akeli's smile faded when she saw the faint smear of blood appear through the thin fabric. "You know, we should go break into a clothing store or something. And a pharmacy."

Xavier raised his brows as he glanced down at his bare chest. "Go ahead and castrate me or whatever that means," he said as he raised his hands in the air in mock defense. He had grinned when she had responded to his move with a smack of her wings against his arm. His eyes lingered over the bandage before she pulled down the shirt. He cracked his knuckled instinctively, but sighed when helplessness washed over him yet again.

He pushed his weight back against the rough bark. "I don't think it's a problem if I don't have a shirt," Xavier said as he flexed his muscles. He cocked his head to one side and gave her a cocky smile. "Doesn't seem like you think it's a problem either," he finished. He frowned as his vision caught the blood that was blossoming on her shirt.

"I guess you're right and I'll be glad to put some more distance between us and the School," he said, nodding. The loss of strength he felt earlier seemed to have been replaced by renewed energy. The cuts on his wings were almost gone now and he blinked.

"Do you think that they made our body systems function so that we could heal faster?" He asked Akeli as he glanced down at the wingtips that hung below his knees. Of course, this was only because he didn't have the wings neatly folded against his back. "Oh and whenever your ready, we can go rob us a pharmacy," he said.

Akeli had to laugh again at Xavier's naiveness. "Castrate...well, let's just say you don't want me to do it." Smirking she rubbed her face against her arm in an attempt to rub some of the ash that was lingering on her skin, but only succeeded in smearing it all over her cheek. "And silly, if you can heal others stands to reason you can heal yourself," she said knowingly, crawling over to him and poking one of his arms. "I just hope they gave me the same ability. Honestly, fire-proof skin is proving to be perfectly useless in our situations," she grumbled unhappily. 

“But I’m glad to see your wings are better. I don’t want to carry all that dead weight halfway ‘cross the state…whatever state we’re in. Do you have any idea where we are? I see trees, trees and some more trees.” Sighing Akeli folded her arms and was pleased to notice that her side only hurt slightly. It seemed she’d also been programmed to have super healing powers.

“Also, Xav, honey?” Akeli said sweetly, all smiles and eye-lash flutters. “We can’t carry a pharmacy. We don’t have super-strength, silly. We forgot it back at the school.” Knocking him with her fist she lifted an eyebrow and grinned widely. “I guess we can go now, seeing as I’m getting better already and your wings seem to be fine.”

Xavier chuckled and pointed at his leg where the festered skin ached. "Well, I wish we could trade powers just this once," he said to her. He pushed himself off of the tree and stretched out his wings, rolling his shoulders to relieve the tightness of the sudden exertion they had just been strained with. He wanted nothing more than to get back into the air and revel in the feeling of freedom. His anxiety was pushed back as he listened to Akeli's last few comments.

He realized his error in the last sentence and rolled his eyes at her witty comment. "You're funny, you know that?" he said teasngly. He flashed her a quick smile before launching himself into the air. "Come on up when you're ready, honey," he said as he used his powerful blue wings to rocket up into the air. There was nothing he could do to stop his wings from scraping against the trees on the way up, but he payed no mind to the minor cuts and scrapes.

He burst through the open canopy of trees and folded in his right wing, making himself twist over in midair. Pure exhilaration filled his senses and his eyes lightened. He steadied himself and rocketed upward, completing a series of corkscrew turns and loop-de-loops as he did acrobatics in the air.

Ooc; omg and it's nighttime. Just thought I should say that.

"Let's not bring that up," Akeli said with a frown, her eyes narrowing with worry. "We need to get that looked after soon, though. I think burn wounds mean you can catch illnesses more easily. It messes with your immune system or something." Standing up she stretched her arms above her head, wincing as she heard her fingers crack when she intertwined them. "Darn, I'm stiff," she groaned loudly, leaning back slightly until her back loosened up. Flexing her black and white wings Akeli flapped them quickly until she gained a few meters, hovering just above the tree-line with a wide grin on her face.

"This is the life," she said dreamily, closing her eyes until they were near slits. Spreading out her arms she banked towards Xavier until she was flying underneath him, feeling safe underneath his large shadow. "I think we should go north," she shouted at him, hoping that the slight wind that was rising up didn't whisk away her words. "That way if we go too far we'll end up in Canada anyway. Not over the ocean." 

Pausing Akeli remembered Xavier's parting words and scowled, raising her right wing and flapping until she made it to the left and above so she was flying next to him. "Also, I don't find that amusing, dear," she said in a snarky tone. "That's my line. Go find your own." 

Xavier steadied himself in the air and threw a cocky grin in Akeli's direction. He leaned to his left and slapped his blue wings against hers. Hoping to get out of range before she retaliated, he dipped his right wing down and veered off to the right. Giving himself a strong upward push, he steadied himself above her. He let out a woop and kicked his speed up a bit.

"Come on, Akeli. I'll race you to the nearest town," he yelled over the force of the wind. "Oh and I don't care where we go, but I do know North is that-a-way," he said as he shifted his directions to face a bit to the left. He cocked his head and wondered how he had known that North was in front of him, but he shrugged off the thought. He figured those scientists had messed with his brain a bit.

Ooc; Omg, fail post. Get them to a town. :U

Letting out a surprised growl Akeli flapped frantically to keep alititude, veering in the opposite direction for a few breathtaking moments before steadying. "Oh come on!" she shouted back angrily. "You've had way more practice than me Xav! You know perfectly well I haven't flown before." At that she beat her ebony wings furiously and strived to catch up, but for all her hard work she couldn't match Xavier's speed. And this bothered her.

"Eat fire," she grumbled, and sent a few sparks in Xavier's direction, hoping to shock him into slowing down. Tilting one wing she slid up to the left, still behind him but this time to the side, so she wasn't in danger of smacking her face on his feet. "And if you know where north is, tell me where the next townstead is then," she challenged with a smirk. "I'm willing to be you're going to be way off with this one."

Xavier heard Akeli grumble something, but took no notice to what she said. He tilted his head back in time to see Akeli shoot a few sparks in his direction. He let out a yelp and sped up, pulling his wings in a bit to gain a bit more speed and to prevent less wind resistance. He fanned his wings out and the air caught them like sails, making him rise even higher and nearer to the low cloud banks. He shot into one of the lowest altitude flying cloud and water droplets clung to his skin. When he popped out of the mist, he blinked and shook his head, shaking down water droplets through the air.

"I have to admit, never thought flying through a cloud would feel like that," he muttered as he wiped the water off of his chest. The dark night sky made him appear pale in what little moonlight shone from the crescent moon. His wings felt a lot heavier than they had before, but he pulled his own weight as he dropped back down again.

He squinted his eyes as he saw a few flickering lights in the distance. He judged that the lights were more than a few miles away, though he was still unsure with how far his raptor vision reached. "And lookie who led us to a town," he said to Akeli.

Snorting Akeli lifted her wings and let out a small laugh as the cool wind rushed into them, pulling her upwards. Just before she hit the cloud she folded her wings back in and tucked her hands in by her sides, closing her eyes against the wind as she cut through the sky. It felt like she was falling at the speed of light and the feeling sent a jolt of adrenaline through her veins. Re-opening her green eyes Akeli flipped her wings out and winced as she was suddenly jerked to a stop. 

Beating her wings quickly Akeli brushed her ginger hair away from her eyes, puffing quickly. "Shut up Xavier," she muttered, but grinned at him playfully. "Anyway, you won the bet. But you'd better no try anything." Narrowing her eyes she swooped up to him and rested her chin on his shoulder, watching the city lights flicker below. "So that's what civilization looks like," she said thoughtfully. 

"Now, I need some clothes and you need a shirt," Akeli stated in a commanding tone, poking Xavier's bare back for good emphasis. "And some towels," she muttered in foresight, noticing his wet hair.

Xavier flipped his tousled mess of black hair behind his head and shook out his hands. "I think we should maybe pick-pocket some people and rent ourselves a hotel room," he offered as he cracked his neck to the side. He sighed as the relief in his neck wore out and he jerked his chin toward the town. "Oh and I don't think I necessarily need a shirt," he said to her as he pulled himself into a steep dive.

The wind bit at his bare chest and his hair whipped itself dry as the wind tore through it. His wings grew lighter yet again and he angled himself upward, shooting like a rocket and completing a full scale arch. He fanned out his wings at the peak of the arch and began to pull himself into a backward  flip. He spun around in the air and circled around Akeli, his eyes light and his face wind-streaked.

"We can knock towels off the list and I think we'll go back to a shirt. I'm cold," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked innocently, batting her eyes at him in mock admiration. Flapping her wings slowly Akeli pointed towards an empty field near the edge of town, noticing that the farmstead's lights were off. "We should probably land here," she said, her lips twitching. "I don't think the owners are up." Squinting her eyes shut Akeli grinned. "Oh, and guess who has a clothesline out with plenty of clothes our size?" she said with a grin. "A.ssuming you're a men's medium and I'm a small," she muttered, squeezing her eyes close again. 

Flaring her wings Akeli flailed her arms to keep from runing into Xavier. "We should hurry though," she said with a frown, grabbing hold of his arm for a second when she nearly tipped upside down. "It's getting kind of light. Also, this flying thing is hard." Letting out a whoop she beat her wings quickly, dancing away from Xavier. "You're going to have to teach me how to hover," she grumbled irritably, hoping it wasn't too complicated. She wasn't in the mood for busting her brain.

Xavier glanced down at the farmstead that lay beneath them. Acres of land sprawled out beyond the quaint house and Xavier found himself feeling comforted. He rolled his eyes at Akel and nodded earnestly, "Yes, I'm sure. This must be a huge let-down for you, but I'm sorry," he said as he grinned. He pumped his wings through the air again as he strained to keep himself hovering. He realized that Akeli was right and the sky was beginning to brighten up a bit. Exhaustion finally hit him and he yawned.

"Tomorrow. I'll teach you how to hover tomorrow," he said through yet another yawn. After that, he beat his wings forcefuly once more and arched himself backwards. He closed his wings and flipped over in the air, now dropping to the ground at a frightening rate. He found himself ecstatic over the pure exhilaration that filled his senses.

Dipping down as her shoulder muscles strained, Akeli nodded in sleepy a.ssent. "Alright," she muttered, yawning for effect. Eyes drooping she dropped after Xavier, blinking her eyes wide open as the sleep disappeared with the oncoming wind. Spreading out her arms she caught up to Xavier and shot him an exhultant grin, blinking her gray eyes wide. "This is amazing!" she called out, though most of her words were ripped apart by the wind. 

Tucking her arms back in Akeli barely managed to stop herself from ramming into the ground, and opted for plowing into a patch of un-harvested corn. After a few dizzying moments she managed to sit up and take a look around, spitting out bits of leaves and dirt. "Aghhh," she mumbled as she tried to get a stubborn piece of corn-stem lodged in between two molars. Shutting her eyes she grabbed her head and mumbled something about practicing landing as she tried to steady her mind. 

"Xav?" she called out, and stood up, though beyond her own flattened patch of cropland she couldn't see above the waving stems. Waving her hands above her head she strained to find a certain black-headed male, though looking at the sky didn't exactly occur to her. Frowning, Akeli settled down to wait.

Xavier blinked as Akeli shot past him in a steep dive. He winced when she snapped her wings open right before she hit the ground, but she slid through the corn anyway. He chuckled softly and swooped down after her. His wings caught on the corn stems and he furled them in, thus dropping to the ground. He rolled his shoulders as he let his blue wings fold against his back.

"Akeli," he said as he peered through the corn. While he had been busy attempting to get his wings through the overgrowth of corn, he had lost sight of her. He grimaced as he felt another wave of exhaustion hit him as the adrenaline rush wore away. "Akeli, try to come to my voice," he said.

Blinking her eyes Akeli grinned and crawled through the corn, tucking in her wings after realizing that she was knocking down stems left and right with them half-open. Scratching the shoulder of one wing restlessly she stumbled through the maize field until she pinpointed Xavier's voice. Pushing aside a sheaf of the plant she slipped through and tiptoed up behind him until she stood only a few inches away, then poked him hard in the center of his back. Snorting with amusement Akeli smiled and poked him again in the back of the head, easily amused after long years of captivity. "Let's get the clothes," she said quietly in a sudden change of topic, bored with bothering Xavier. "I want to get out of these filthy things." Touching her side Akeli's eyes widened as her hand came away wet. Holding it up to her face Akeli trembled at the sight of the fresh blood. 

"Xav?" she murmured softly. "My wound re-opened. And I don't think it's going to stop bleeding anytime soon." Squeezing her eyes shut Akeli limped past him, feeling the adrenaline rush seep out of her veins and invite the pain back in. Clasping her side inadvertently when she stumbled slightly, Akeli let out a harsh breath, pausing to settle her wound.

Xavier blinked when Akeli poked him in the back. He turned and smiled after she poked him again in the back, but kept a mock glint of irritation in his eyes. He raised his brows as she laughed at the small effort of annoying him and decided to shrug it off. When Akeli alerted him to the bleeding wound, he knelt by her side and gently tugged the dripping fabric away. Though he was dead tired, he clapped his hands together and pulled them apart again, revealing a sticky glue-like substance. He stretched the gel over Akeli's wound, hoping it would hold.

"Let's get those clothes, rest, and get to a doctor if this doesn't get better," he said.

"I don't even want to know where that came from," Akeli grumbled with disgust as Xavier smoothed the paste over her cut. Despite its dubious origins, however, it did what she supposed whatever Xavier was aiming for and, for the most part, stopped the blood-flow. Struggling to keep from yawning Akeli rose to her feet again, albeit swaying slightly, and started towards the shining light in the distance. "That better be the farmhouse," she muttered in annoyance, too tired to try and get an aerial view. "I am sick and tired of these nasty hospital gowns." 

Pausing a thought occurred to Akeli, the blood draining from her face. "What if we end upat the doctor's and they turn us in? And we get captured?" Nibbling her lip nervously Akeli wondered if she should promise herself to kick Xavier hard if he tried to drag her off to some nasty white-coat. 

Xavier rolled his eyes at Akeli's smart remark on his power. "Even if you asked, I wouldn't have been able to tell you where it came from," he said as he inspected his hands. He rubbed them together and found they were smooth; not a trace of the gel was to be found. He knew the gel could do more than heal minor wound, but it could also change to a dark purple ball of pulsating energy. He knew from experience that the Erasers didn't like this power very much. It affected others differently, depending on his mood. When he wanted to be of use and help someone; say heal their wounds or his own, the substance would come out like the moldable gel. When he was angered or agitated, the substance would be lighter and would inflict a series of ice-like burns on another's skin.

Although Xavier hadn't felt the pain himself, he had seen what it did to Erasers. He shuddered from the memory and clenched his fists together. He focused on Akeli's anxiety as she faced the situation before them and forced himself to clear his head.

"Don't worry about it for now. We'll face that when the time comes, but i'm pretty sure that what I just stuck on your leg might help a bit. That and we've figured out that we have some fast regenerating thing," he said, struggling to get out a coherent sentence because of the exhaustion that was fighting against him.

He slipped his arm around her waist, being careful not to touch her wounded side, and held onto her. Suddenly, he found himself needed the comfort of someone close to him; he had felt too alone in this world long enough. "I'm glad you're with me," he said softly, losing his normal cocky behavior.