Disclaimer: If I owned anything (especially Pyro) I'd have him running around in some tight ass jeans and a muscle shirt constantly unless he was naked and then he'd stay that way. Anyways, don't sue me because I own nothing except Alexandra, her family, theirs mutations and her mutation.

Angry Fires Burn Furiously

Chapter One: They're Not All Good

Alexandra's POV

"¡Alexandra, ven aquí! (Alexandra, come over here!) I need to show you something," my cousin, Eduardo, yelled from down the hall. I put down my copy of "The Outsiders" and hopped off my bed. I stretched a bit before exiting my room and heading down the hall to my brother's room where my cousin was rummaging through a couple of old boxes. Normally I'd have kicked anyone out of my brother's room because he's strict about no one being in there, but I made an exception for Eduardo. He's my favorite cousin off of my mom's side along with his two brothers and our youngest cousin, Anthony. Actually, that's my mom's whole side. Notice something?

"¿Qué quieres? Estaba leyendo y me quitaste del libro más interesante del mundo. (What do you want? I was reading and you took me away from the most interesting book in the world.)"

"Stop exaggerating and come here and help me with these," Eduardo said, lifting one box off of the floor and carrying it over to my brother's bed. "I swear you should be an actress with how much you over exaggerate some shit. You'd be the perfect Latin actress: famous for being an embellisher." He smiled at me and I couldn't help but laugh at his insult to me.

"You're just mad because you're too ugly to be on TV," I retorted and smiled sheepishly when he turned to me, giving me an angry look.

"What did you just say?" he asked, trying to keep his face the way it was. That's the thing about my mom's side of the family: because I'm the only girl I get treated special…I almost get spoiled. Sure, sometimes they treat me like I'm the baby even though I'm not, but that's all good as long as they realize that I'm not when it's necessary for them to do so. Don't get it twisted, being the only girl on this side of my family has it's perks like almost being spoiled by all the guys, but it's not like I'm some little girl that never did an honest day's work in her life and doesn't know the meaning of a good work ethic. That's something that comes along with having four boy cousins and a brother in a family like mine: you never stop working because there's always something that needs to be done and that's when we all become equals. There's no doubt, however, that I'm definitely the center of attention in my family sometimes and not only because I love to act and put on a show, but also for another reason….

"You mad at me, Eduardo?" I asked timidly to strike a cord in his heart and make him feel bad. I feel so evil when I do that.

He knew as well as I did that he could never be mad at me so his face was screwed up for a minute as he tried to keep it from inevitably turning into a smirk and then a smile. Soon he was full out laughing. "You, know me too well."

"Yeah, I do. Now what did you need me to help you with?" I asked.

He pointed to the second box on the floor and said, "Bring that here and put it on the bed."

I nodded and lifted the box, light as could be, and placed it on the bed. "You couldn't do that yourself?" I asked, giving him a weird look.

He smirked, leaned against my brother's bureau and crossed his arms. "Open it," he said, gesturing to the box and smiled a wide and toothy smile. That definitely came from his dad's side of the family because I had the same smile…when I felt like smiling.

I scrunched my brow in confusion and slowly – almost tentatively opened the box. Once the last flap was lifted, I looked into the box and saw a bunch of foam peanuts. "What the fuck? What's up with the foam peanuts?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "Look through them, dumbass."

I stuck my tongue out at him and began sifting through the peanuts. Soon I found a small box that jewelry is usually sold in and I smiled at him. "What is it?"

He walked over and took the box from me before opening it to reveal a gorgeous – it had to be sixteen karat – gold bracelet that had three little charms hanging off of it. "Happy sweet sixteen, niña. Espero que te guste. (I hope you like it.)" He then took the bracelet out of the box and helped me put it on. It was gorgeous. The little charms were of the peace sign circle thing, a heart and the letter 'A'.

I stared at the bracelet in awe and then up at him for a good minute before jumping on him and almost suffocating him with a huge hug. "Oh my God! It's gorgeous, Eduardo. Thank you so much!"

He laughed a little and said, "No problem. Glad you like it s much because it cost me a fortune."

I stared at him and was almost drowned in guilt. "Are you serious? Then take it back and just give me a twenty."

He shook his head and said, "You really are slow, aren't you?"

It took me a minute to process what he'd said and then I smiled at him. "So, you made me lift that heavy ass box to give me my gift?" I asked, making huge gesticulations and almost smacking him once. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

He rolled his eyes and tackled me onto the bed. "Come here, you little ingrate. I swear, you are so spoiled," he said, laughing so hard that his face turned red despite his rich caramel complexion.

I was tickle-tortured by him for a few minutes before I gave up and said, "Alright, I give up! I give up! You win! Just please stop. I need air!"

He got off of me and then pulled me off the bed and dragged me down the stairs of my two-story house and into my living room. His brothers were there, just sitting on the couch while my brother tortured my younger cousin with a bowl of popcorn. Anthony was on the phone, most like talking to his girl or a friend and my brother was tossing popcorn at him every few seconds.

"Yo, I'm gonna go chill at the park with some people, alright? I'll be back in time for lunch," I said to my brother so he wouldn't flip out later, wondering where I was.

"Okay, don't get lost or kidnapped or nothing. Oh, and don't use it unless you absolutely need to," he said, turning to me and pointing an accusing finger at me.

"Well, which part?"

"All of it. I mean it, Alexandra. We don't need people knowing what you are and trying to kill you."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, whatever. Thanks for the gift Eduardo. I love it." I gave him a kiss on the cheek and left for the park.

I hated when my brother got that way: like he was scared I'd get killed or something if I even let it slip that I was a mutant. I mean, could all humans really be that bad? I didn't think so and that's why I hated it so much that my family could think so. I mean, yeah they've had bad experiences but that's because they never knew what to do with their abilities. They always started fights and finished them in a bad way. Someone always ended up in the hospital. But at least they never ended up in a lab or in jail like the other mutants. That's all that mattered I guess.

I continued walking to the park and I was at the corner of my block when I heard some fast footfalls and someone yelling, "Over here. They live here!" I turned around slowly and saw a group of teens in all in black, running to my house and up the driveway. They were carrying guns…guns like the ones I saw on the news a few months back when that whole mutant thing happened down at Alcatraz. I squinted a little to see who it was that was at the door to my house and my heart fell into my stomach when I saw who it was: Friends of Humanity.

I don't even remember thinking that I had to run to my house and warn my family, but faster than I could even blink I was running up the block at breakneck speed screaming at the top of my lungs, "Get out of the house! Get out of the house! They wanna kill you! Get the fuck out of the house!"

The young teens turned to face me and then they looked back at the house, aiming their guns.

The door to my house opened and out stepped my younger cousin, Anthony.

It all went in slow motion: he look around and saw the young, gun wielding members of the Friends of Humanity and then saw me. Before he could even step back inside, the boy in the middle said, "Say your prayers, scum," before pulling the trigger and pumping Anthony full of lead.

I sat bolt straight up in my bed in a cold sweat and slapped my face lightly to see if I was awake or still asleep. "Oh thank God! It's just a dream."

"Yeah, a dream of what really happened, Alexandra," came a voice from the door to my room.

I looked up and saw Anthony, staring at me as he juggled a couple of balls of light that shadowed his face in such a way that he looked almost menacing. But the kid is sweet as candy so you'd never even believe that he was evil if you knew him. I nodded and said, "Yeah, I know, shorty. I don't need a reminder." I hopped out of bed and asked, "Was I screaming again?"

He nodded and I pushed past him to go down the halls to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "Well, that didn't mean that I needed to be told once again that it was a memory dream," I said angrily.

"Sorry, but it's just a little weird that you don't want to talk about it. I mean, you're the one who always thought that mutants should forgive the humans that did us wrong. You're being a hypocrite," he said, following me to the kitchen and around it as I got a glass and filled it with water.

I almost chocked on the water at what he said. I stared up at him, since he was about a head taller than me and tried hard as hell to keep myself from slapping him. "Don't you dare call me a hypocrite," I said, slamming the glass down on the counter and drawing myself up to his height. "Don't you dare! They almost killed you, Anthony! Do you get that? They…almost…killed…you! How am I supposed to forgive that? I'd forgive them for killing me before I even thought of forgiving them for killing you or anyone in my family for hat matter."

He stood rooted to the spot and just said, "Wow…. But I just thought that you were always the one who could do something like that…forgive them for almost killing me, I mean. 'Cause you always said that not all humans were bad." His eyes, a gorgeous emerald color, shown bright in the dark even more so than usual now because he was worried or scared or something intense. But it was scarier now because they were already pretty bright due to his mutation. He could control the amount of light that was in a room with his power. It allowed him to either absorb or release light into an area. He could also take the light that he absorbed or already had in him and form it into anything his mind thought of, which allowed for more fun than you would think. That's why it was pitch black dark at the moment. He was absorbing the light that reflected off the marble countertops and tile floors from the moon. The fact that he was always afraid of the dark made his mutation so much funnier than it would have been if he weren't.

I shook my head, ruffled his hair and began walking back to my room while saying, "Yeah, but they're not all good either." There was a moment of silence as I pushed the kitchen door open and then asked, "You comin' or what?"

"Yeah, I am," he said before there was an increase in luminosity.

We both walked the halls of my new house and when we reached our rooms (there was no way I was letting my cousins and brother live alone after that shit happened) and my hand was on the doorknob, I couldn't help but wonder aloud, "Can you believe it's already been four years?"

His room was right across from mine and I heard his hand touch the knob before he paused to think and then said, "No…it seems shorter."

"Everything seems shorter to you," I said, almost angrily because it was true. Every time you asked him about anything that had to do with time it was always too short for him.

"That's how it is when you almost die…. Everything gets shorter…life is no exception," he said as if he were scolding me before he opened his door and went inside.

I shook my head and whispered toy myself, "He didn't die…. Stop acting like he did."

"Can you ever stop acting like he did when it was those pieces of shit that almost killed him," came a voice from the hallway window to my left.

Hey, I hope you liked it. Sorry this chapter didn't really tell you much and sorry for the slight cliffhanger (even though some of you might already know who it is). Anyways, let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review. Constructive criticism is welcome and for those of you who like to leave flames - don't. If you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all - always remember that. Aight, pplz. I g2g so I'll write some more later. Abrazos y besos para todos.

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NY GE Pyromaniac