Fiat Lux 2: Life After Death
Summary: It's been over two and a half years since my boyfriend murdered me. After I came back, one of my friends and I decided to team up to take down The Family, a supposedly clean group of supers with a dirty past.
A/N: Well guys, I'm back. And we've got the same deal as before. If you can guess who sang the chapter title, you get virtual cookies. Or, if it's a really tough one, I'll give you virtual people. What you do with them, now that's up to you. Teehee. By the way, if you haven't read the first one, you won't get this one at all. So, I highly suggest reading that one first. Oh, and i realized recently that in Fait Lux, i misspelled the first word throughout the whole thing. I really don't want to go back and fix it, so I'm probably not going to. So, just to inform you, the proper spelling is actually fiat.
))))!!((((Chapter One
Get Out Alive
"Why don't we call it quits for the night? You've got finals to study for, and your dad's gonna kill me if I get you home late again," Warren said. It's not what you think, I swear. Let me explain. It's been over two and a half years since Lash murdered me. Ever since Warren and I got different ends of a brief encounter with his dear departed mother, he and I have been working on hunting down The Family, but they've covered their tracks very well. Warren's getting ready to graduate from Sky High, while the rest of us are getting ready for our senior year. And my powers haven't caused a single headache since I died, unless it was from trying to explain to somebody how they worked.
Will and Layla are still together, and Zach and Magenta have had an on again, off again relationship since freshman year. Currently, they were off, but who's to say how long it would last. Warren dated Lindsay Rime, an ice elemental two years above him, for about a year, but they just weren't right for each other and both realized it. They parted amicably, and are still friends to this day. Ethan is currently dating Diana, a girl about two years younger than us who can move things with her mind. I don't really date anymore, save for the occasional trip to the movies with Random Guy 5. I mean, come on. If your old boyfriend not only tried to kill you, but succeeded, would you rush back into the field? Didn't think so.
Anyway, here we are, over two and a half years later, and not much has changed. Gwen and her lackeys are still in jail, and life goes on. I was torn from my reverie by my cell phone ringing. Layla's number was on the screen.
"Are you at Warren's?" she asked.
"Duh," I said. "What's up?"
"Turn on the nearest TV to channel five," she said, hanging up. Shrugging, I put my phone back in my pocket and turned on the TV. It was a video of Lash, stepping out of a courthouse.
"-jail for the past two years, and managed to get out on a flub on the justice department's part," said the broadcaster as I stood there, staring dumbly at the screen. "Apparently, he tried to strangle his girlfriend two years back, and is only getting out of it because he wasn't eighteen when they convicted him. Let's turn to Lindsay Rime at the scene."
"Thanks, Chuck," said Warren's ex-girlfriend, her pale blonde hair tumbling down her shoulders. "Well, some of us remember the story. He strangled his girlfriend at a school dance. Now he's back out on the town. Mr. Livingston!" she shouted, thrusting the microphone in his face. "If Leticia Lumin, the girl you strangled two years ago, was watching right now, what would you say to her?" Lash looked deplorably at the camera.
"I'd say I'm sorry, Tish," he said. "And I know that I've no right to even ask that you forgive-" Warren turned off the TV as he walked up behind me.
"I can't believe they're letting him walk on a fluke," he said. He put the remote down on a table. "Come on, I'll take you home." I shook my head.
"Take me to Layla's," I said. He nodded and we got in his car, a little old beater with more rust than frame. We drove silently the whole way across town to Layla's house. We made it about halfway to the door before Layla ran out and threw her arms around me.
"Are you alright?" she asked as we walked to the living room.
"A little shocked," I said, "but how else would I be feeling with my murderer on the loose again. And he had the nerve to apologize to me on TV."
"Speaking of murderers," Will said, walking into the room and handing everyone a soda, "how goes the search?"
"Well, today I stumbled across some old files that aren't supposed to exist," I said. "You know, the kind were it's tough to get out alive? Well, I finally found a name. There was something about a super named 'Inferno.'" I turned to Warren. "Any ideas?"
"It's not ringing any bells," he said, "but I'll run it by Uncle Dave. Maybe he'll know something."
"And I'll talk to Dad, see if he knows anything," I said, glancing at my watch. "Crap! We gotta go!" Warren broke many speed limits to try and get me home before my eleven o'clock curfew, but we were already a few minutes late. Warren came in with me, to try to help explain to Dad why we had missed it yet again.
"Where have you been?" Dad asked as soon as we walked through the door. When I first started hanging out with Warren, Dad had been ecstatic, remembering what his parents had been like back in the day. But then I asked him for help with our research, and suddenly he wasn't too keen on Warren anymore. "You're late."
"I know, Dad," I said, "and I'm sorry. But we had some issues to deal with." Dad gave me a look that said I'd missed one too many curfews. "Lash got out of jail tonight."
"What?!" Dad exploded. "But how?" Back when I first told Dad what Lash had done, he didn't believe me. Then the bruises had shone up the next morning, and suddenly Dad was very apologetic.
"He claimed a mistrial on the base of him having been underage and tried as an adult. And the stupid attorney didn't call me in as a witness. Idiots."
"So he walked?" Dad asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Oh, and I finally got a name from some old files. Does the name 'Inferno' mean anything to you?" Dad thought to himself for a moment.
"Not off the top of my head, no," he said. "But I guess I can go for a bit of a look-see in some of my old records. Now go to bed."
"Thanks, Dad," I said, giving him a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, Warren." I waved at him and made my way up the stairs to my room.
A/N: So, what do you think? Is it as good as the last one was? And, do you know what group did the song Get Out Alive?
L8s.