Hola, amigos! Here is another chapter focusing on the grand-kiddos of Angel/Archangel and the kiddos of Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler is one of my favs from the X-Men. (Top 5 easily!) Who is your favorite?
Warren's son and grandchildren are my original characters; all others belong to Marvel.
I also do not own the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Geez, I wish I did!
Please read & review!
Cheers, Maria
Chapter VII: The Night Queen – Part 1.
"You don't know my mind; you don't know my kind. Dark necessities are part of my design."
-The Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Dark Necessities"
Griffin Worthington was a night owl, metaphorically and, in some ways, literally. His siblings were very much diurnal creatures. Griff lay tossing and turning amongst his mum and brother and sister who were all sleeping soundly. Sparrow was drooling; Irene was snoring softly and Peregrine was smiling in her sleep, probably dreaming of making a sweet dive so fast it shattered stones.
But Griffin was the son of Tom Worthington, AKA Owl, and Griff had inherited every ounce of his Da's owlish capabilities and urges. As his family slumbered in the comfy nest of blankets and pillows in the home cave, Griff laid awake, wide green eyes watching the night skies beyond the cave mouth. His ears, however, painted a picture in his mind of the nocturnal world. It thrummed with life. Griff could hear moth wings pattering outside. The cheeky little bastards were fluttering around just a few wing-beats from the Worthington aerie, as if they knew a powerful night predator – Griff – was just inside the cave.
They were taunting the boy.
For Griff looked very much like a human boy from the neck up; from the neck down he looked very much like the mighty creature for which he was named. His body was covered in rusty-red feathers and his fingers and toes were tipped in ferocious claws. Griffin's ears and wings, however, were like an owl's – detecting the slightest noise, but not making a sound respectively.
He could hear other enticing sounds beyond his family's window to the outside world. Bats. Griffin's "white whale."
Though they looked like human children in many ways, Griffin and his siblings were allowed to eat any prey they could catch – all except bats.
Bats were taboo. Not that catching them would be easy, Griff thought, even for a seasoned predator, like his father. Bats were tricky. Griff used echolocation primarily to hunt and fly, but bats did too. And bats could shoot sound at their opponents, scrambling their enemies' echolocation, making it appear in a hunter's mind's eye that they were suddenly chasing dozens of bats, not just one target. For someone who hunted primarily thru sound, it sounded like a nightmare.
Bats had other tricks too. They flew in flocks which made them seem easy targets. How could you not catch a bat when you're charging into a venerable wall of them? But just as a predator got close enough to snatch one, the flock would change direction, every bat turning at the same time as if choreographed, leaving the hunter with empty claws – and an empty stomach.
Tom had hunted bats until the Law had been enacted and the small winged mammals became forbidden food. He had told Griff just how sneaky they could be – but, deep down, Griffin wanted to try to catch one. Just once.
The sound that really held his attention tonight, however, was miles away – so far away across the ocean even Griff's keen ears could barely hear it. It was the wild sounds of Carnival .
Griff sighed wistfully. His father and mother had witnessed the spectacle of Carnival several times. His big sister Perri had seen it once. His little brother Sparrow, like Griff, never had, but none of them seemed to care for it.
"A bunch of lights and noise and crazy people?" Perri had said to Griff when he begged her to tell him about Carnival. "What's the big deal, bro?"
"That's exactly it!" Griff had replied. Bright vibrant colors and lights painting the night, the clash of colorful voices and music, the singing and dancing of revelers in crazy costume – that seemed the life meant for Griffin.
His parents and siblings seemed content with their rusticated life, the gentle grey-greens and pastel blues, the muted colors of the rocks and sea and sheep-folds of the home island. Griff, however, thirsted for the vivid blood-red of the sunset to call in the wild night full of revelry and life and the bright pink dawn to signal a day of rest before another night of partying and insane fun.
He glanced down disdainfully at his snoring siblings. How could Perri with her extreme speed and telekinetic powers be content with this mundane life? The answer was actually easy – on the home island, she was the mightiest hunter in the sky. No challenge. No failure. Griff thought his sister's poor ego couldn't handle failure in any form. What a waste, he thought with a sniff.
And Sparrow … God, he was even worse. Griff's baby brother was such a pushover, little bunnies didn't even snicker behind his back – they laughed in his face. This easy life wasn't just all that would suit Sparrow; it was probably all he could handle.
"Argh, lie still, Griff," Perri mumbled crossly, half-asleep. Griff's fluffy bulk sat squarely on her head.
"Let's sneak out of the aerie, Perri," he whispered. "Da and Gran'pa are off bonding; a flying shark wouldn't wake Mum! And Sparrow …" Griff made a flippant gesture with his wingtip. Sparrow couldn't follow – he was such a weak flier – and his older siblings could certainly bully him into keeping mum.
"Go 'way, Griff," Peregrine murmured sleepily, turning over and snuggling closer to their mother and Sparrow.
Well, he would … but the truth was he didn't want to be alone. Yeah, it was a scaredy thing to admit, but the first rule of flying had been hammered into the siblings by their Mum and Da: "Always fly with a buddy." Besides, what was the fun in flying alone?
Griff was the closest to a challenge Perri could get on the home island; Griff loved to one-up his show-off sister with his superior sense of hearing and echolocation.
To his mind, the overachieving Perri needed someone to teach her humility.
"I want to go to Genosha …" he murmured. It was his dream. His rare glimpses of the splendid city powered by the mental power of its citizens filled the boy with awe. If it were up to his Da Griff would never go.
But now … his Gran'pa Warren knew of Griffin's wish and the cunning Griffin knew better than anyone that Warren Worthington could deny his grandchildren nothing.
Perri didn't even crack open an eye. "Carnival is stupid and pointless, brother. Someday when you see it, you'll understand."
Griff scowled at her. God, she had last seen Carnival when she was like what -? Three? But she acted like she knew all about it. Perri was such an annoying sister with her condescending attitude.
Suddenly Griff had an idea. It was a devilish one. A terrible one, but it made him smile when he thought how his Mum would clutch her pearls if she found out or how his easygoing Da would be shocked. Even his grandpa, who adored all three children, would be very angry.
"Oh, I'm not interested in Carnival, actually," he said casually. "What I really want to do is catch a bat."
Perri's reaction itself was almost enough to satisfy him. Her violet eyes, which looked almost black in the dark aerie, flew open. She was suddenly wide awake. "Bat?!" she croaked. The subject was so taboo the siblings didn't even discuss it among themselves. They had all been told what would happen if they ever broke the Law.
"You're stupid … y-you're serious?" Perri gasped. "You know what will happen, don't you?" she hissed, whispering so low, as if scared the ferocious Night Queen could hear her discussing such a taboo subject. "Even you aren't that much of an idiot, Griff!"
Griff chuckled, though he was miffed at her "idiot" comment. "You mean how I'll burst into flames or just vanish? Poof! Those are tales to make chicks behave, sis," he replied. He spoke with swagger, and he had done it to yank her chain, but now he was curious … his parents had only ever said not to, but did he know of anyone personally who had been punished for breaking the Law?
No. And how could the Night Queen watch everyone all the time? Or hear everyone all the time? Tom had told the children that she had hearing sharper than his own, but still – even Tom couldn't hear something more than a mile away. How powerful was this Night Queen exactly? The answers were either very or exaggerated.
Right now, Griffin was leaning toward exaggerated.
Perri wasn't. Sitting up in the nest, staring at her brother with huge eyes and her hair sticking out in all directions, she looked like a scared baby chick.
"Geeee, sis," Griff said, rolling his eyes with a smirk. "I never thought you'd be a benchwarmer like that chump." He jerked his chin at a snoring Sparrow. "I'll let you know how the bat tastes." He tied on his blindfold and took a running leap off the ledge at the cave mouth and into the welcome night sky.
He smiled when he heard Perri's powerful wings pumping behind him. "You are not serious, Griff!" she hissed at his shoulder.
"Aww, sis, you doubt my word?" he said. "Guess I'll have to prove it."
"You're sick!" she snapped, sounding desperate. Griff could sense Perri was torn between calling his bluff and going home or tailing her brother to watch out for him. Finally, she paused and shouted: "You won't do it! I don't believe you! Chickeeeeen!" Her screams dwindled as Griff sped away into the night.
She'll come … Griff thought.
He hoped.
###
Perri watched her brother's form as it was swallowed up by the night sky. Not even you're that much of an idiot! The words she had hissed at Griff echoed in her head. But it was Griffin Cassidy Worthington she was talking about … Peregrine could dive at speeds fast enough to cause sonic booms, but Griff was the dare-devil of the family.
Griff had lived his entire life in his sister's shadow, but instead of being resentful and scrambling for their parents' attention the way a second-born would usually do, Griffin viewed his place in the family hierarchy as an asset. Perri was all flash, he said; she got all the attention – leaving her little brother Griff to experiment and explore new methods of travel, new ways of thinking, new venues of mischief.
Perri had met her mum's parents when she was very small – barely three-years-old; she could barely remember Gran'pa Sean Cassidy and Gra'ma Moira MacTaggert. All she remembered of them was how much her Mum Irene had resembled Gran'pa Sean in looks, gingery and green-eyed, and Gra'ma Moira in personality, gentle and thoughtful. The Cassidy temperament all came out in Griff, however, Gran'pa Warren would say darkly. One reason Irene's parents didn't come around the Worthington family was Warren and Sean's infamous rivalry. They were renowned enemies.
It was true, however, Irene confirmed. If a rule was made, Griff would break it. If a boundary was set, Griff would test it. If a proclamation was handed down, Griff would question it. Griffin Worthington was a born rebel.
And now he had stated he was about to break the biggest rule of all – even thinking about it made Perri shiver. And hadn't her Da said the Night Queen had hearing so keen she could hear your thoughts? Peregrine might have scoffed at this if she didn't know for a fact it was true. Griffin didn't believe it because he hadn't seen – he'd never met the Night Queen as his sister had.
If Griff even tried to go thru with this, there could be horrific repercussions.
Perri was used to going fast, talking fast and thinking fast – perhaps her hardest obstacle was slowing down and thinking things thru, especially now when time was of the essence.
"Jus' slow down, darlin'. Don't go off makin' rash decisions in a mad rush," Irene would rebuke her eldest child. But what did her Mum expect? Perri was practically a falcon; speed was what she lived for.
To her credit, Perri did try to slow down and think rationally in a tight situation, but her mind hopped nervously from thought to thought. OK, Griff wouldn't take this dare … Would he ? she pondered. Well, there had never been a dare he hadn't taken. He had eaten a live crawfish when he was seven; when he was ten, he had accepted Perri's dare to fly low over the open ocean where the great white sharks were out hunting sea lion pups. He had lost several feathers to that venture and Irene had lost several years off of her life. It was then Perri had stopped putting Griff up to dares. It was then he had started daring himself to do the impossible.
Her thoughts changed direction with the lightning-fast turn of a falcon. What would the Night Queen do to Griff … To me? That final thought was selfish, but true. By understanding her brother's intentions, Perri was technically abetting a crime. That also put her entire family in danger – if they found out.
Which they wouldn't, Perri thought stoutly, her violet eyes narrowing to slits. She recalled what her father had told her when she was first learning to fly: once you commit to a dive, see it thru. Perri had made her decision.
She had to stop her brother.
###
Griff's thoughts were hardly on his sister, well, once he knew she was indeed following him. Griff smirked – he knew Peregrine would never allow him to do a dare alone. He wasn't sure if this was genuine sisterly care or the fact some glory might not come to Perri. Knowing Peregrime, he assumed the latter. Perri loved to be the center of attention. Well, let her , Griff thought. The spotlight shining on his sis had saved Griffin plenty of trouble. More leeway to get away with his own plans.
Perri also made a handy patsy. She was so used to being ahead of everyone, she seldom watched her back. So Griff sometimes pegged the blame for his ventures squarely on his sister.
Griffin flew on completely silent wings; not even his father's keen ears could detect Griff in flight. The boy was within sight of the sea-spires and, beyond that, Genosha sparkling and loud with celebration. Carnival was in full-swing.
Later, he thought. Like all his family except his grandpa, Griff wasn't much of an endurance flier. He needed a rest – especially before pulling off this stunt.
Silent russet wings carried the boy up to his perch on the sea-spire resembling the Scarlet Witch, Magneto's daughter and the Night Queen's mother. Like her daughter, the Scarlet Witch had been a beautiful and insanely powerful woman. Griff wondered what his powers could truly do when he was allowed to fly away from the home island for good and use them for other things besides hunting tiger moths. His powers of echolocation were very similar to the Night Queen's, Tom had told his eldest son. Gran'pa Warren had been dropping hints that perhaps Griffin could study under the powerful Queen which excited his eldest grandson no end.
Well, what could stop Griff from becoming more powerful than the ruler of Genosha, Magneto's mighty heir, especially if Griffin were to become her apprentice, learning all the secrets of her craft?
Griff's heartbeat steadied and his breathing became more regular and less labored as he rested and thought these thoughts. It was twilight now as he removed his blindfold and looked around. The last traces of sunset streaking the sky were fading. Yes! he thought excitedly as he watched first two then ten then a dozen then a hundred bats explode from the hidden caves inside each of the sea-spires. The free-tail bats blackened the indigo sky with their sheer numbers – thousands if not millions of bats spun thru the air, turning and diving in a graceful ballet.
Griffin heard a collective cheer rise up from the island nation of Genosha, accompanied by gongs banging, instruments playing and people singing as the massive black tide of bats filled the sky and began circling the sea-spires surrounding the island volcano.
Bats were sacred here. They were the crest of the mighty Night Queen. It went deeper than that, however, back to the distant days when humans ruled the Earth. The migratory bats were a sign of the changing seasons and the silly human beings believed the seasons could not change without the little flying rats, Griffin thought disdainfully.
The bats departed from here at the end of Carnival and traveled North millions of wing-beats to their nursery caves where they raised their kits. When autumn approached the Northern-lands again, the free-tail bats would return again as they had for millennia.
The humans were all gone from this and most places on the Earth, but traditions that run that deep die hard. Carnival marked the beginning of the bats' journey and the beginning of spring.
… And it was the reason killing bats were taboo.
"Griffin!" he heard his sister hiss in outrage. Griffin turned his head almost completely around (another owlish trait he had inherited from Tom) to see Peregrine winging her way angrily towards his perch. Right on time, as usual. Of course, she could have got here faster if her brain worked as swiftly as her wings, he thought with a smirk.
"Watch me, sis!" he replied in a jovial way and fell headlong off the sea-spire. He hurtled towards the black crashing sea below. Griffin usually didn't employ this hunting technique; the headlong dive was Perri's specialty. Griff, like an owl, preferred a silent ambush. But he would need to approach this hunt differently in order to pull it off – and without his trusty blindfold.
Bats, like Griff, flew depending on sound, not sight.
By switching things up for himself, he was for his quarry as well.
As he fell, he hit the inevitable wall of flying bats which changed direction effortlessly to avoid him. Perfect. Step One of his Plan: Keep your eye on the prize. Griff wasn't a reckless hothead like his sister; he always had a Plan. He didn't attempt to chase the hoard. His eye was on a small female which flew a just a few wing-beats behind the flock. He honed in on his target.
The frightened young female bat shot sound at Griffin, scrambling his echolocation. But he wasn't just listening to his target the way he usually would; both his eyes were trained on her. Step Two: Beat them at their own game. Griffin sang out sound the way his Mum would and hit the young bat with a barrage of sound-images. To the confused bat, relying almost completely on echolocation, her pursuer was now suddenly all around her. She fluttered like a butterfly in bewilderment.
Griff smiled. Step Three: Close the deal. Do it cleanly. He swooped in on the helpless animal, razor talons bared like a hungry owl. His claws closed over the little bat, ready to rip it apart …
Then he stopped, hovering in the air. The free-tail bat fluttered desperately in the cage made by his closed claws. Griff swelled with pride. He had done it! The most elusive prey in the sky and he had caught it! Not Peregrine. Him.
"Griffin, what the HELL?!" Perri hissed as she approached him. But there wasn't just shock and outrage in her slanted purple eyes, there was amazement and awe there too. She could barely believe Griffin had done it. Well, disobeyed the strictest rule set before them – she could believe that. But that he had actually caught a bat. Only their father had ever done that!
Griff basked in her awe – short-lived as it was.
"Griffin, what the hell have you done?!" Perri snarled, awe and admiration at his prowess gone. All that remained was horror at what he had dared do.
"Jealous, sis?" he gloated. "Jealous I caught the fastest prey in the sky? Not you? Not Peregrine Worthington? Not the fastest living thing after Da?"
"Griff, I mean it!" she said thru gritted teeth. "What you did puts us in danger! All of us! You, me, all our family!"
"What?" Griff drawled. "Kill a bat? The Night Queen's beloved little pet? Say it, Perri – Say: Griffin did the unthinkable, the impossible!"
Perri paled in terror at the very mention of the crime. "Gimme !" she hissed angrily, lunging at her brother. Of course, she was faster, but when Griff opened his claws the little bat was indeed not dead, just stunned and still.
Perri's horrified and then livid reaction was very much worth everything, he thought … until he noticed her sudden movement had knocked the small creature from his hand. The bat, still in shock, went plummeting down like a stone.
Perri's reflexes, as sharp as ever, kicked in and she dove after the little animal. But so great was her fear and desperation that she gripped the bat too tightly when she caught it in less than a second.
She had broken its back.
Peregrine stared down in terror at the tiny broken body in her trembling hand then glanced up at her brother's equally horrified gaze. "God!" she gasped before the very night sky seemed to bend inward in a surreal way and the young girl vanished like a puff of smoke.
"Perri!" Griffin screamed. This was not part of the Plan.
