[centre][color=00a651][h3]~Reginald Wagner~[/h3][/color] Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. It came. The train rushed forward, charging at speeds it ought not hit. The passenger beast tried it’s damnedest to hold onto the tracks, but it was for naught. It rocked, once. Twice. A horrible screech flooded the air, the sound of brakes grinding into nothingness, desperately trying to perform their job. It rocked the third time. It had had enough. The train, for the smallest moment, had become a bird, a plane...no...a burning wreckage. It left the tracks, and collided with the wall of the tunnel, stopping instantly. Brakes, eat your heart out. But the rest of it kept on it’s path, trying to drive through the train. It succeeded. The first car lie split in two, it’s passengers either gone or going. The second car had met with it’s fate as well. And the third. Something exploded. One of the passengers, a young super possessing some form of Fire control if Reginald had to guess, had in his final moments, met with extreme emotions. And that fed the fire. The tunnel collapsed around the wreckage, an impromptu tomb. All those lives, snuffed out in just a handful of seconds… Then he was no longer watching the train from an impossible angle. He was sitting at his desk, hands holding his pulsing temples, surrounded by wadded up papers. It was too much. It was the first day, the day the students were to arrive, and as usual, the daydreams were terrible. Always terrible. Always… It had been the twelfth vision he had had that morning. They were constant. One after another. He had thought the last had hit him...even started to write a little to occupy the thoughts, but he had only hit the interlude. The last one had been one of the worst outcomes. But the familiar question, one he hated to ask himself for he had no answer, rose to the lips of his mind. Would that be his reality? Was that the world in which he lived? Or would it be another? Drained both mentally and physically, Reginald could hardly find his legs. He didn’t want to. He’d much rather just collapse into a dull nothingness. His thoughts flew to the third drawer down on the right in his fancy mahogany desk. Just one or two might be able to… The tall man rose, slowly, letting his balance come to him. He looked down at the mess, and without thinking, starting picking up all of the wads. Three, then throw in the bin. Three, then bin. It had to be three. Two would not suffice, and four would break it. Break...what? Reginald wasn’t sure. He didn’t care to find out. Were the walls of this world so thin that such an act would tear them down, Wagner refused to be the one to poke the first hole. Let one of the others do it. Three, then bin. Three, then bin. Three- A growing sound from outdoors alerted the man. He binned the paper with a grimace. Was that enough to throw it off? Please no… He squatted by the bin, pulling the wads out. Three, then floor. Three, then floor. Once the last had left his hand, he stood, walked to the window and looked out. He saw students forming on the platform...but he hadn’t saw the train. Had he seen this version before? He couldn’t be sure. The lines were...blurry as of late. He saw the nurse, Lost and Meredith discussing something. Then Schmidt joined the fray. Nobody looked particularly banged up. There didn’t seem to be any rescue teams forming. Wagner closed his eyes, suppressing tears. He hadn’t seen this outcome. He liked it much better than the others. He pleaded with the nothingness, begged for this to be what he saw when he opened his eyes. So he tested the waters. One eye slowly opened, eyelashes pulling back the curtains to the world. And there the same scene stood, a painting formed by the world. Reginald smiled an uneasy smile. Then turned and returned to the bin. Three, then bin. Three, then bin. Three, then bin. The commotion outside had picked up a bit, students obviously glad to stretch their legs and get to know the ones around them. It hadn’t surprised him. New supers were usually always ecstatic to meet others like them. He hadn’t...but he had saw them before he met them. He had saw them win, achieve victory and glory. He had also watched them lose, losing their lives in the process. Some of the ones he would have never guessed were the ones who begged and pleaded the most pathetically. He was rather numb when they had found him, coming out of one of those relentless spells, sprawled out by (not on) on his bed, wearing nothing but his skivvies and clutching a bottle so tightly, it might burst in his hands. He had known they were coming, obviously. As to who it would be...well, that differed. He was either to die, to be recruited, or to be ignored. There were other options, but those were the most frequent. His truth turned out to be the second. Reginald shuddered. He didn’t like thinking about the past. The future was bad enough. When he started delving into things that had happened… The mans hand shot to the drawer. He produced a key from somewhere. He always did, not that he was ever absolutely positive where it had come from. His hands trembled, but he managed to get the key in the lock, turning it. He pulled the drawer open. Laying there was freedom in a brown paper bag. Peace in a bottle. Liquid relief. He couldn’t hold himself anymore. He shakingly brought the paper bag out of the drawer, along with a small glass. He sat back into his brown, comfy high-backed chair. He laid the glass out and reached into the bag, unscrewing the cap. He tipped the bag, allowing the dark, amber river to flow into the glass. He watched the lake fill, and when he was certain it would take no more without overflowing, he ceased, screwed on the cap, and returned the bag to it’s home. He stared at the drink for a moment. Then his hand closed around it. [color=00a651]“Un, deux, trois.”[/color] Bottoms up. The glass hit his lips, and Wagner threw his head back. Over the lips, past the gums, watch out stomach, here it comes. He winced. He always did. Then he opened his mouth and drew in some air in a gasp. The burn was awful. But the burn was also much better than those visions. Those damned visions…[/centre]