Okay, I realise that there were a few inconsistencies in my first story. There was no mention of the Danger Room in the movie, but I like the idea of the Danger Room so I kept it. Also, I'm a little unsure of Remy's history. Could someone please help me out there?
I don't actually remember who it was, but thanks for reminding me of Kurt's real eye colour, whoever you are. I tend to forget some small details. Thanks.
I know that when Logan left the mansion he took Scott's bike. But I decided I like Logan better with a truck, so he got a new truck. I have no idea what happened to the bike. You'd have to ask him.
Adam's accent is stronger than Dreamer's because he's lived in New Orleans his whole life. I realise that people with Southern accents come from other states but I can't remember any of them. Which is okay since I'm Australian so I don't have to know every single state. =)
'Dark Rising 2: The Devil You Know' is set three months after the events of 'Dark Rising 1: Call Of The Night.'
Dark Rising 2: The Devil You Know
Chapter One
A teenaged boy walked through Central Park at eleven o'clock at night. He was fairly good-looking, with spiky dark blue hair and a lean, muscular body. From his rough, two-sizes-too-big clothing, it was obvious he was a runaway or a street kid. And from the way he kept looking around, he was either looking for someone or hiding from someone.
Sabrina Hunter growled to herself as she watched him. ((You made a mistake coming out here alone, Whitlock,)) she thought venomously.
She stepped out of the deep black beneath the trees and snarled, "looking for someone, Dreamer?"
He turned and she gasped. Instead of the dark golden eyes she'd expected, this guy had purple eyes. Other than that, he was an exact match for Daniel Whitlock.
Composing herself, Sabrina smiled at the boy. "You looking for someone?" she asked.
He gazed dispassionately at her with those strange purple eyes. "Ya maht say that," he said with a soft Southern drawl. Sabrina was a little surprised at that. What were the chances of running into not one, not two but three mutants with that self-same accent in good old New York City?
"Who're you looking for?" Sabrina asked. He pulled an old, torn photograph out of his pocket and showed it to her. Two blue-haired boys, about five and six, one with dark gold eyes, one with purple eyes.
"Who are they?" Sabrina asked, pretty curious by now.
The boy smiled briefly. "Th' purple-eyed one is me, thirteen years ago. Th' othah one is mah brothah, Daniel."
((His brother. Blue hair, a brother with gold eyes… Damien might be interested in this kid…))
"I think I know someone who can help you find your brother," Sabrina said. "He's a guy I work for, Damien. I'm Sabrina Hunter."
"Adam Whitlock. Look, Miss Huntah, there's somethin' ya gotta know b'fore ya commit t'anythin'. Ah'm a mutant."
"That's not an issue. I'm a mutant as well, Adam, and so are most of the people I work with," Sabrina said. "Trust me, nobody cares whether you're different. What can you do?"
"Ah c'n get insahde people's dreams. An' Ah c'n repel telepaths. Ah don' lahke people snoopin' 'round in mah head."
"You'll fit in fine with my associates. And I know Damien will do his best to find your brother."
"Good. Ah've been lookin' f' him f' years. Sure knows how ta hide himself," Adam muttered. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Ah was afraid the FOH'd get ta him before Ah could. They're gettin' too serious 'bout all this f' mah likin'."
"I take it you're not fond of humans then," Sabrina said.
Adam shook his head. "Got nothin' 'gainst th' decent ones. Folk like th' FOH, they're th' ones who really get mah blood risin'. Sometimes Ah just want ta kill 'em all."
"I know how you feel. I feel like that most of the time. And my employer understands that. If you come with me, we can find your brother and get revenge for all the mutants who have suffered at anyone's hands."
"Sounds good. Ah'll check it out, but Ah cain't make any promises 'bout stayin'."
"Understood. Before we go back to base, though, Damien wants me to pay a little visit. Want to tag along?"
"Why not? Where we headed?" Adam asked.
Sabrina grinned. "Ohio."
@ @ @
Jubilee walked across the bare wooden floor of the mansion, heading up to her boyfriend's room to tell him to come for breakfast. She passed Scott and Jean's room on her way and smiled. The two newlyweds were off on their honeymoon, the wedding having been two weeks ago.
As she passed by the infirmary her smile vanished. Raptor was still lying in the bed, connected to so many machines, still in the coma she'd slipped into three months ago. Bobby was sitting by her side, keeping a silent vigil, the way he did every day. The only time he wasn't with Raptor was when he was searching for clues to her parents' whereabouts.
Jubilee brushed tears away as she continued walking. Most of the other students had come to terms with the fact that Raptor was unlikely to ever wake up, had gotten used to the sight of her motionless body lying in the corner of the infirmary. Jubilee never would.
Dreamer came out of his room just as Jubilee turned the corner. He took one look at her tearstained face and steered her into the room and sat her down on the bed. He knelt in front of her and said, "what's up, Jubes? This's th' first time Ah seen ya cry since…"
He trailed off. "It's Raptor, isn't it? Is she…"
Jubilee shook her head. "No. But I just can't believe she might be gone. She's been my best friend for years."
She sniffled. "I shouldn't be dumping this on you. I'm sorry."
"Don' worry 'bout it, Jubes. What else are boyfriends f'?"
She wiped her eyes, trying to stop the tears that refused to go away. "We should go down to breakfast. The others'll get worried if we're not there."
"Let'm deal. Raht now what ya need is ta talk ta someone, an' that's what Ah'm here f'. Ah know what it's lahke ta lose someone ya care about, Jubes. But there's still a chance that Raptor'll be okay. Jean wouldn't lie ta ya."
"But I feel so helpless. I can't do anything to help her and it's like the others don't care about her. Logan left the day after we were rescued for God's sake! Rogue doesn't even mention her anymore. Sometimes I feel like me and Bobby are the only ones that care what happened to her."
"That ain't true," Dreamer told her. "Rogue feels guilty cause Raptor was hurt helpin' her, an' th' others don' know what they're supposed to feel. As f' Logan, ya have ta understand that he didn't leave because he don' care. He has a lot on his mind, Jubes, ya know that."
Jubilee buried her face in his chest. Her reply was muffled. "I know. But I feel so alone with her like this."
Dreamer stroked her hair. "Ya're not alone, Jubes. Not while Ah'm here."
She sighed and rubbed her face. "We really should get down to breakfast. The others'll come looking for us soon and we're not supposed to be in each other's bedrooms."
"Bit of a strange rule, don' ya think? What with Jean an' Scott procreatin' a few floors up an' all."
"They just don't want the school to get a bad reputation," Jubilee said.
Dreamer chuckled. "Jubes, th' place is full of mutants. As far as a lot of people are concerned, that gives it a bad rep. A l'il after-hours activity is nothin' compared ta that, believe me."
Jubilee smiled. "We'd better get down there," she said. "Scott and Jean might not be here but I'm sure one of the other teachers would come looking and I don't want to think about what they'd say if they found me in here alone with you."
"Wouldn't be any diff'rent ta what they said when they found us in th' pool at midnaht," Dreamer reminded her. "At least here we're both wearin' decent clothes."
Jubilee laughed. "I'll never forget the look on Scott's face! He looked like he wanted to kill us."
"Yah, an' he prob'ly would have if Jean an' Storm hadn't been there," Dreamer said, grinning. "Ah figure we gotta do somethin' to make life interestin' round here."
Jubilee wiped her eyes and stood up. "Come on. We really should get down to supper. I'm sure the Professor won't be happy if we cause another 'scandal' so soon after the whole pool incident."
Dreamer stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "All raht. We should get downstairs b'fore someone realises that we're both missin'. Ah need ta talk ta Rogue 'bout somethin', anyway."
Jubilee stood up and straightened her clothes, which had gotten rumpled when she flopped down on the bed. She and Dreamer left his room and headed downstairs.
Halfway down the stairs, they ran into Aura. She grinned and said, "another couple of lovebirds, huh? You're the third I've seen, and it's only eight am. At the rate you're all going there's gonna be more than Jean and Scott's baby around here."
"So Kurt and Kitty were at it again huh?" Jubilee asked.
Aura nodded. "Making out in the garage. And Rogue and Remy were making puppy-dog eyes at each other all through the video last night. Are you two going to become one of those couples?"
"Define 'those' couples," Jubilee said.
Aura wrinkled her nose and laughed. "Um, okay, making out every chance you get, like Kitty and Kurt. Holding hands wherever you go and making eyes at each other, like Rogue and Remy. Having a baby, like Jean and Scott… well, you better not be doing that. The Prof and Storm would kill you."
"When's Storm gettin' back, anyway?" Dreamer asked.
Aura shrugged. "I don't know. The Professor didn't tell me much, just that he located a mutant with Cerebro and sent Storm to check it out. They live somewhere in America, that's all I know."
The three teenagers went down to breakfast. Xavier smiled a welcome and turned back to his conversation with the other teachers. Kitty and Kurt were nowhere to be seen, which meant they'd gone off for breakfast alone somewhere.
Bobby was also missing, but everyone knew where he was. Upstairs in the infirmary, watching over Raptor. Praying for her to wake up.
@ @ @
Ororo Munroe had seen many things in her years. Some horrible, some miraculous, many things that other people would be hard-pressed to believe. But even she hadn't seen something like this before.
She was sitting in a car on the side of a quiet street in a small town in Ohio. Across the street, a group of boys and girls in their teens were playing soccer in a large grassy park. Several of them were obviously mutants, like the girl with light pink skin and a unicorn's horn sticking out of her forehead, or the boy with six fingers on each hand and tiger stripes on either side of his face. Yet the other teenagers treated them exactly the same as anyone else.
Storm smiled to herself. She'd found one place, at least, that didn't persecute mutants for being different. But she wasn't here to admire the open-mindedness of these people. From what Xavier had told her, one of these mutants could be in grave danger.
As she watched, the game seemed to end and the teams broke up into smaller knots of teenagers. One of them, a boy with long black hair tied back in a loose ponytail and black Aviator sunglasses, looked over to where a pile of bags were dumped against the fence. A bottle of ice-filled water floated out of one and into the dark-haired boy's hands. He called out, "I'm heading back, TJ. See you next week!"
TJ, a black boy, nodded and shouted, "see you, Solitaire."
Solitaire started across the street, his sports bag floating behind him. Storm was impressed. This boy obviously had telekinetic powers, but he was using them without even thinking, something that required a lot of control.
Solitaire suddenly stopped and looked around, as if he felt Storm watching him. He reached behind him and grabbed his bag, then continued to walk down the quiet street, now looking like any other teenager.
Storm nodded to herself. Solitaire was most likely the mutant Cerebro had located. What remained to be seen was why Xavier had gotten the distinct feeling the boy was in danger.
@ @ @
Where am I?
How did I get here?
Something's wrong… I can feel it. But I don't know what… what's going on… everything is so hazy, I can't see what's keeping me here, in this place of memory…
I remember… people. Laughing. And classes, classmates, learning, teaching, helping, loving, fighting, fear, sorrow, joy, anger, Bobby, Jubilee, Logan, Scott, Jean, Rogue, mutants, school, home, never home anymore, not anymore, love him, need him, hate her, must kill her, help me, god help me…
Damien, Dusk, oh God he killed Lance, he killed his own ally, must help, Rogue and Kurt hooked up to that evil machine, he kills so easily, if Jean dies Scott'll never get over it, what about the baby, God someone help us all…
Darkness. Lost. Someone show me the light…
@ @ @
Dreamer woke up with a start, gasping for breath. He glanced at the clock beside his bed; it was 2am. He looked over to Remy's bed, glad he hadn't woken up the Cajun. He'd gotten enough sleep to last him another few days, so he stood up and dressed quietly and went downstairs to the pool.
He'd started coming here a few weeks ago, when the dreams first started. Something about the absolute silence and the play of light on water calmed his mind and allowed him to go over the dreams, trying to determine whether they were a call from the vortal nexus or just normal, innocent dreams.
It was the fourth time in a row he'd had the same dream; a voice, calling in the darkness. A voice that was eerily familiar…
TBC. In Chapter Two, Logan! Storm and Solitaire have a problem involving Sabrina, and Bobby finds what he's been looking for…