Stones Taught Me to Fly

by flying feather scribbles

[Sequel to "Lucky Enough to Live"] Anti-mutant and Anti-superhero laws are reality now. They aren't the only problem for the Rand family at the moment, though. Danny is king of K'un L'un, and his family is in mortal peril. His wife and child are forced to flee, and, somehow, his daughter Lilly ends up with Ava and Peter Parker, just married in this whole mess.

10. Amongst the 'Did's and the 'Do's

Chapter 10: Amongst the 'Did's and the 'Do's

"And in the end, we were all just humans...

Drunk on the idea that love,

Only love,

Could heal our brokenness."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Laughable. It was insanely, unreasonably, impossibly, ironically hilarious.

I mean, look at me now. Telling a story, calling it brand new, when really, in a seemingly short period of time that will pass all too quickly, it will be an old tale, told far too many times for anyone to care about it anymore. The waters of time can either polish the rough stone or erode away those it feels are too this or that.

Of course I awoke only a moment later, but my brain was drunk on the darkness of the end, unable to focus on the world of the living. In the time it took to gather my wits, a lot happened. And when I say a lot, I do mean a lot.

A whole lot.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIII

I took a deep breath in and opened my eyes. An opaque blue dome spanned over me, 16.18 feet high and 1.618 meters wide. The dome pulsed with blue light, and a web of words were scrawled across it. Danny stood across from me, maybe a foot away.

A series of beams of light spread across the half-sphere, forming something similar to a wheel stood near the point where they crossed; the only thing between us was a small piece of printer paper, folded into a square. I stooped down and clenched it in my fist. Danny's green eyes rested on me for a moment; he embraced me, and I buried my face in his chest. A moment later we stared into each others' eyes. He caressed my hair, and gently removed the paper from my fingertips.

Danny carefully unfolded it. The creases divided the sheet into nine squares. One line of a riddle was written in the first eight boxes, but the ninth was blank, as if waiting for an answer. The handwriting was bold and large, in black paint that said:

I see much but change little,

I am firm, irresolute,

Powerful but gentle,

I can rip apart mountains,

Yet be moved by gentle stirrings,

I am valued and wasted,

I am life itself,

And I give life to others.

I tore it away, crushing it in my hands. "No," I shook my head. "Not now." My breath caught in my throat, and I could hear the soft hum of energy around me. I glanced down at myself, and my stomach sunk when I saw the blue vines and glowing runes running up my arms.

Danny grabbed my wrist. "We can work this out. It will be fine."

"Fine?" I choked. "Fine? What just happened is fine?"

"Will be," he said, giving me a reassuring squeeze, "It will be. Hopefully you will not have to do that again; it should not become habitual to stab yourself, right?" A bit of an accent was slipping into his speech; the letters faded into one another, becoming more like birdsong than words.

It was meant to be a joke, I knew, but still- it stung. I twisted my hair between my fingertips. Abruptly, I whirled around, and slammed my fist against the half-sphere of pulsing energy. It vanished.

"Where?" he asked simply.

"The team," I muttered. "They'll need it."

Stepping out into the still-intact 77th street (where we had apparently fallen), I couldn't help but wonder. Wonder what would happen when Danny fulfilled his promise. It wasn't a question of if he would keep it, but when his labors would bear fruit to a new world.

For me. It was all for me.

...

Needless to say, there was no sense of normalcy after that. Nobody could remember much, but the team managed to recall rushing up to the Helicarrier at two in the morning at Fury's call, then suddenly waking up in their beds.

Fill in the blanks, Brian told me. I ignored him. What use could a dead man be, after all?

Well, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Lilly's POV, present

I stare. "You mean I have a brother?"

"A brother and a sister." Her voice breaks, and she has to take a deep breath in before continuing. "Lynus and Willow."

"Lynus." The word tastes awkward, tumbling from my tongue like it doesn't belong. "Willow." These two syllables have a warmer, homey feel, somewhat familiar, as if I knew them at one time.

She nods, gulping back her tears, and I am reminded of how strange it is to see my own mother so weak. She is transparent, like a holographic image, flickering between a nineteen year old girl and a thirty year old woman. "Find them."

MMMM

'

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