A/N: This fic comes right after "Finding his Teacher" If you haven't read it, I suggest that you do.
Fighting the Darkness
by Waterfall
The music was blaring through the room; its heavy beat making her sway softly from side to side in time with the rhythm. Out on the floor a group of young people were dancing, teenagers most of them. Guinivere's eyes slowly moved over the crowd, stopping by the blond boy on the outskirts of the dancing crowd. He was dancing with a foxy, redheaded girl, who was doing her very best to catch his interest. When he finally looked away from the girl's face, she winked at him and smiled. He smiled back, and she could hear his happy laughter inside her head. Still smiling, she turned back to the bar-desk and took another sip of her wine. It was far too long since she and Jeremy had done something like this.
She didn't even notice the man before he sat down beside her.
"I'll have a beer."
Annoyed, she turned her head to look at him. She had wanted peace and
quiet, and wondered for a moment if she shouldn't just leave. Usually when
a man sat down beside her in a bar, it meant that he wanted to get her
into bed, and she had no interest in that. At least not now.
"Here you go."
The bartender was back with the beer, and the man grabbed it hungrily
and downed it all in one go. He wasn't very tall - Jeremy was probably
taller than he was - and he had a terrible hairstyle. But from what she
saw in his eyes, that didn't mean that he wasn't dangerous. She'd seen
that look before, and not long ago either - it had been just this morning,
when she looked into the mirror. That unpleasant thought turned her searching
look into a glare. By now he'd noticed her staring, and glared back at
her. She gave him a nasty sneer, and turned back to the dancefloor.
"Hey, Teach! Order a Coke and some water, willya?"
"Are you bringing your friend over here?"
"Yep. I want her to meet my fab teacher."
She laughed.
"Don't flatter me too much, Jeremy. It might get to my head."
"Never. We'll be up in five minutes, ok?"
"I'll order straight away."
Sweet, thoughtful Jeremy. Knowing that the man's appearance and her
own thoughts had put a dampener on her good mood, he was now doing his
best to make it better. And it worked, too. As she ordered the drinks she
was tapping rhythms on the bar-desk, silently wondering where she'd heard
this song before. Once she thought that the little man was staring at her,
but when she looked his way he was gazing into his glass of beer, seemingly
intent on drinking himself to oblivion.
"Come on, she won't bite ya!"
Jeremy's voice was loud and clear, like a song in her ears. Him and
his companion were making their way to the bar, hands tightly grasped.
She smiled at them, and pulled out a stool, which Jeremy promptly dumped
onto.
"Jeremy, haven't you forgotten something?" she asked him pointedly.
"What?" Puzzled, he looked around himself, not understanding what she
meant.
"Find a chair for your girl, boy!"
"Oh, of course!"
Blushing, he jumped down from the stool again, and pulled out another
one as well. The girl sent him a dazzling smile.
"Thank you."
"Um..."
Beside her, the little man snorted loudly, making Jeremy blush even
more. She glared at him, and he ignored it.
"I'm Guin," she told the girl and reached out her right hand.
"Nancy," the girl answered, taking it.
The drinks arrived, and were quickly devoured. Time flew fast, and the
three of them sat and talked for a long time. Well, Nancy and Jeremy did
most of the talking, leaving Guinivere free to think. There was something
strange with that little man, but she couldn't for the life of it figure
out what it was! He was down to his tenth beer now, but they didn't really
seem to have any effect on him. Sighing, she decided to give up just when
Jeremy's pained voice reached her.
"I'm really getting a headache now..."
"I know, you foolish boy," she answered him. "I've been noticing
it for a while now."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"You have to be able to figure these things out for yourself. I'll
strengthen your shields for now, but only until we get home, all right?"
"Thanks."
The pair quickly made their goodbyes to the fair Nancy, and phone numbers
were exchanged. On the way out, Guinivere sent a last look at the strange,
little man. He was watching them now, and for some reason it made her nervous.
* * * * *
"Who was that man?" Jeremy asked as they walked out the door and down
the street.
"I don't know. There was something with him... I can't explain it."
"I didn't notice anything."
"You, my friend, was far too preoccupied with Nancy. You wouldn't
even have noticed it if the house collapsed above us!"
He laughed, a bit embarrassed.
"No... probably not."
To get to the bus stop they had to walk through quite a bit of the
town, and none of them thought anything of it as they turned down an empty,
small alley. Not until two men stepped out in front of them, that was.
They were both dressed in black leather jackets and headscarves, and were
obviously part of a gang.
"Hold it right there!" the shortest one threatened. "Just do as I say
and there won't be any trouble."
"What do you want?" Guinivere asked annoyed. She didn't want anything
to interrupt her good mood, least of all some stupid thugs.
"Your money, of course."
"Forget it," she said, and turned around. There, blocking their way
out, were three other thugs. Now she was really starting to get angry,
and she could feel the first, tentative touch of darkness...
"Not so fast, honey," one of them leered. "We're not done with you
yet."
Jeremy started forwards. "Don't you touch her!"
She stopped him with a touch on his shoulder. "Stay out of this, Jeremy."
He looked up at her, confused.
"What are you going to do?"
"That depends on them."
Slowly, she spread her arms. The dark power was inside her; hungry,
unsatisfied, hateful. It had gone unfed for so long, and now it was getting
hard to hold it back. If she could just convince them to leave…
"Come on, we don't have anything worth taking. Just let us through."
"In your dreams!"
They started advancing.
"Even without the money you're one hell of a prize," the short thug
said. He was obviously the leader of the group, and to stupid to know what
he was getting himself into. It didn't seem as if she had any choice. She
had to fight them.
"I'm warning you…"
Her eyes caught the glittering silver of knife blades and she crouched
lower, gripping one of her own blades, the left one.
"Get them!"
As the thugs advanced, she turned her back to the alley-wall, pushing
Jeremy behind her. The power in her whispered of sweet violence, and she
shook her head and gripped even tighter around the knife. She easily parried
the first attack, slicing the guy across his stomach. It was so crowded
here, and with Jeremy behind her she couldn't even move away. Now the whispers
became shouts, urging her to forget everything, to throw away the knife
and…
"No!"
Throwing herself forwards she barrelled into the thugs, pushing them
away.
"Jeremy, run!"
"What's wrong? Your thoughts…"
"I said run!"
Knife through flesh, song of screams, taste of blood… The power wanted
it. She wouldn't give in!
"Teach! Wake up! I'll… Aaaahhh!"
"Aaaahhh!"
The scream rang through her head at the same time as she heard it.
"Jeremy!"
She turned, terrified of what she might see. Jeremy was lying on the
ground, blood trickling from his shoulder. One of the thugs towered above
him, raising his foot to kick in her pupil's head, to snuff out his strong
light forever…
The knife flew through the air, hitting the thug's neck without a sound,
severing his spinal chord, taking his life. As she turned back, she heard
the angry, vengeful thugs as if through mist and water.
"You bitch!"
"She killed him!"
"You'll pay for that! We'll take you until you puke, until you beg
for mercy, until…"
Ignoring their angry shouts, she walked forwards, gracefully avoiding
their knife thrusts and attacks. Her eyes were riveted on their leader.
There was so much hate in him… so much anger. The world would be a better
place without him. She threw one of the others into the wall with a Judo
move, still with her eyes locked to the leader's. He had stopped shouting
now, and was starting to get afraid. She smiled. It was too late.
"Fuck…"
Fitting, that his last word should reveal who he really was. Still
smiling, she reached out her left hand and touched him, still looking into
his eyes.
His scream was long and high-pitched, turning into a gurgle as his inner
organs dissolved. She turned away even before he was dead, and moved towards
the others. Drawing her other knife with her right hand, she slashed out
at one of them, making him move into the reach of her left. Her head was
filled with screams and darkness, she was a priestess offering to her dark
god, and these were her sacrifices…
"Guin! Teach, don't… Stop it!"
So Jeremy had awakened! Good. She would show him the power of violence,
the futility of being passive, his foolishness of mercy! Another thug went
down, also screaming. Her smile grew wider, but deep inside she could feel
her own screams, her own pain… It didn't matter. She was the strongest,
she would endure!
"Why, Jeremy?" she asked him. "They are scum, vermin! They deserve
what they get, they've done the same to countless others."
"No! No, they haven't!" Tears were streaming from his eyes, and he
was clutching his head.
"What is wrong?"
She didn't really have to ask. Her mind was linked to his, and she
could feel the pain inside him. His shields were down; he had no protection.
He felt what they felt, suffered what they suffered! Still full of rage
she turned on the last living thug, whom she was pushing almost absently
against a wall, her knife tracing a red line down his neck.
"Look!" she hissed. "Look what you've done!"
The thug whimpered. Then Jeremy spoke to her again, his mind full of
sorrow.
"It isn't them… It's you."
That one sentence, those calm, painful words, managed what none of the
thug's pleas had been able to do. The darkness receded, and she stared
at the whimpering thug who was almost scared out of his wits. He couldn't
have been more than 15-16 years, even younger than Jeremy. Slowly she let
go of him.
"Go!" she whispered, still struggling to cage the power. "But if I
ever see you again…"
He was gone before she could finish, his footsteps ringing in her ears.
She shivered.
"Jeremy…Oh, Jeremy!"
She threw herself down beside him, holding him tight. He was still
crying, and to her surprise she realised that she was, too.
"It's alright, teach… It's gone now."
"No, it isn't!"
Her words were hurting him, but she was unable to stop herself. It
had never been this bad, never! It was growing stronger; she was loosing
what little control she had!
"No you're not!" Jeremy reassured her, and she felt a deep shame.
"I'm supposed to be the teacher!"
"You are! Without you I'd be dead now, and you…"
He didn't dare to finish the thought, just held harder around her.
The wounds she didn't know she had started to heal, and she felt herself
grow calm again. Jeremy was healing her! Exhausted, she still had the strength
to do the same to him, to move her right hand and stroke his neck and shoulder.
What had happened scared her badly, and as they sat there together she
made a promise never again to give in to the dark power she had in her.
"I'll do it for us, Jeremy. You can make me do it."
As they slowly got up and started to stagger out from the alley, he
looked at her, still with so much pain in his eyes.
"We can do it together, because we love each other."
"Yes, because we love each other..!"
She didn't look back as they left.
* * * * *
He arrived just in time to see them stagger out of the other side of
the alley, and to catch her last words:
"…about time you learned how to heal. We'll…"
The smell of blood was overwhelming, and he looked in amazement at
the four bodies that littered the place. Then he pulled out a cell phone
and dialled a number, walking fast to get away before someone else appeared
and thought that he was involved.
"Hello? Professor Xavier? It's Logan. I think we have a problem here…"
These fics seem to grow darker and darker… I promise,
the next one won't be as dark. But now it's getting exiting, isn't it?
Please review!
Shade and sweet water,
Waterfall