Ok...I do not own X-Men Evolution. So please don't sue me. I'm not making any money from this work of fiction. I'm just doing this to for fun. You don't wanna ruin my fun with a law-suit do you? That would be really really mean!
I'm rating this story PG-13 because of language. Not that your average 12 year old doesn't already know all these words..but ah well. If however, you are under 13 and are reading this right now....DO NOT BLAME MY STORY when your parents catch you cursing. If you are over the age of 4 you are old enough to take some damn responsibility for your own actions and not blame the things you read or see on tv/movies for your dumbass decisions. Woah...sorry...unrelated rant. Anyway...here is the story...hope you like it!
"David! Toby! Are you two gonna help or what?" an irritated voice called from the kitchen. The two boys looked at each other and grinned. The older of the two winked conspiratorially at his younger brother before replying.
"We choose 'What'!"
The younger brother smothered a laugh and shook his head. Toby never can resist teasing her, he thought. Then, deciding that his brother shouldn't go down alone, he joined in. "Yeah you wench! Kitchen work is woman's work!" This brought a bark of laughter from Toby and a clatter of slamming cabinets from the kitchen.
"I think you pissed her off Davie." Toby snickered.
"What? You started it." David replied sullenly. "And don't call me 'Davie'."
"I'll call you worse than that you lazy ass. Now come on! Mom 'n Dad'll be home in a couple of hours and you both know I can't cook all that food by myself." their sister stormed. Noticing the looks on her brother's faces, she narrowed her unusual eyes and pointed a spoon at them threateningly. "Just what the hell is so damn funny?"
"Danny...you can't cook at all!" Toby burst out which made David laugh out loud. Within moments both of them were laughing at the thought of their sister trying to cook. Fresh in their memories was the one time their mother had tried to show Danielle how to cook. Hard boiled eggs. Probably the simplest thing in the world to cook. Put water in a pan...put eggs in the water...boil the water...wait five minutes...take the eggs out and put them in a bowl of cold water. Easy. Except that when Danielle tried it, she nearly started a fire because she left the eggs on, not for five...ten...twenty minutes...but over half an hour. The water had boiled out and the eggs had burned and exploded. Their mother had to just throw the pan away.
Danielle glared at her brothers. Her eyes going from slightly maroon to bright red and her tail lashed angrily side to side. "That's why YOU TWO are SUPPOSED to be HELPING! You two were supposed to do the cooking...I was supposed to set up and clean up? Any of this ring a bell?" she demanded.
Toby controlled his laughter with some effort and grabbed his brother's arm to pull him up. "Come on Davie before she skins us." This made David laugh harder as he let himself be pulled toward the kitchen.
"Men." Danielle muttered as she followed her older brother and twin into the kitchen to help get ready for their parents' anniversary party. She and her brothers had been planning the party for weeks. It was just going to be a family affair. Mom, Dad, her and her brothers. Her brothers would do the cooking, of course. Danielle vowed to herself that she would never repeat the shame of nearly burning the house down cooking eggs again. She was going to decorate the kitchen and set the table, then clean up after everything was done. She really felt like her brothers got the better part of the deal and it ticked her off that they were being so pissy about it.
She glanced at the clock hanging beside the refrigerator and calculated how much time they had left to work with. Mom and Dad will close the bakery at six, she thought. It'll probably take them over an hour to get the place cleaned up and locked up. I'll say an hour to be safe though. It's a twenty-minuet drive...fifteen if they make the light. Its five-thirty now so... She paused a moment, pressing her fingers against her leg as she did the math. We don't even have two hours, she realized anxiously, pulling the tablecloth and the good napkins out of the cupboard.
While she spread out the white linen cloth on the kitchen table, Danielle watched her brothers working at their tasks. David was making dough for the bread and Toby was seasoning the hamburger meat to make the meatballs for the pasta dinner. Almost unwillingly tendrils of green worked their way into her eyes and a grin began to spread on her face at her brother's antics. They were arguing over how much garlic would go in the sauce. It was the same argument they had everytime they made pasta. What a couple of loons, she thought with amusement.
She was confident though, despite the clowning around, that the dinner would come out great and that was all that mattered. Her brothers both took after their mother, who was an amazing cook. That woman could take birdseed and make a cake that would have people coming back for more. She did all the baking at the bakery. Danielle took after their father. At least as far as cooking went. Their father handled the books and other business parts of the bakery. He couldn't cook to save his life.
"Hey Danny, you about done over there?" Toby asked, interrupting he thoughts. She twitched a napkin into place and rearranged two of the candles in the centerpiece one last time, then smiled at her work.
"Damn Danny." David said softly, stopping to examine his sister's handiwork. "That's looks great! I almost feel bad we're gonna be messing it up when Mom and Dad get home." He smiled at his twin proudly.
Danielle blushed. Her light gray skin turning a dark slate color and her eyes were glowing with swirls of green. "Thanks Dave. Yeah I'm done Tobe. Whatcha need?" she asked, turning toward her older brother who was holding a bowl and spoon out to her.
"Think you can fill these deviled eggs without burning the house down?" Toby asked with a teasing grin.
The green that had filled her eyes at her twin's compliment was completely washed away by the flush of annoyed maroon. She made a face at her brother and grabbed the bowl of deviled egg filling from him. "Asshole." She muttered as she began to scoop dabs of the yellow stuff into the hollow of the sliced egg halves.
As the time approached for their parents to get home, the three of them began to rush around, getting last minute things done. They all wanted everything to be in place and perfect when their parents got home. Danielle helped Toby transfer the food from the pots and pans into the serving dishes while David wrapped all their gifts. He hated wrapping, but he was the only one of the three who could do it as nicely as Danielle wanted. She was hopeless at it and Toby's idea of wrapping was to put the thing in the middle of the paper, draw up the sides, twist it and wrap a band of tape around the whole thing.
"Ya know Danny, if you'd just hurry up and develop a power of some kind we'd prob'ly be done by now." David quipped. It was a long standing joke between he and his brother to blame everything from them missing the school bus to global warming on the fact that Danielle's mutation didn't seem to include any sort of 'super powers'.
"Yeah." Toby agreed as he ladled sauce carefully, trying not to spill any. "If you'd just get some telekinetic abilities you could just move all the food at once. Not to mention..."
"You can both just shove it." Danielle interrupted. "If two had gotten off your lazy asses the first fourteen times I asked you to, we'd a been done by now."
"Yeah whatever. You're just makin excuses cause you feel guilty." Toby grinned at his baby sister who simply responded by flipping him off. Toby laughed happily and David grinned at the two of them. "You know you love me Sis." He added and ignored the rude noise she made in response...which he felt was very gentlemanly of him.
Once they'd finished everything in the kitchen, the each raced to their rooms to change. Their parents were running late...for which they were all profoundly grateful...but none of them felt the need to tempt fate.
Danielle opened her closet and pulled out the red dress she'd decided on days ago. It looked good on her and gave her pale gray skin a slightly rosy tone that made it not quite so 'dead man' looking. It was specially tailored, like all her clothes, to accommodate her tail and large, bat-like wings. Getting dressed was something of a challenge with all the extra appendages, but it was one she was used to after a lifetime and she was usually done getting ready for school before her brothers. Something which always puzzled her greatly.
After slipping on the dress, Danielle stood in front of the mirror and tried to decide what to do with her hair. It was really her best feature and the only part of her that didn't seem to be affected by her mutation. It was exactly like her mother's long black tresses. Her mother had never cut her hair and Danielle wouldn't cut hers either. Turning slightly in the mirror and shifting her wings to get a better look, she thought that pretty soon her hair would be as long as her mothers. The thought pleased her. "I'll just leave it down." She said softly to herself.
Glancing one last time in the mirror to make sure everything was on straight, she opened the door and headed toward the kitchen, fully expecting her parents to be home...or at least pulling into the driveway. A quick peek out the window in the living room showed her that wasn't the case. She checked the clock. Ten after eight. They're late, she thought with a frown. She debated on whether or not to call the bakery. If they're going to be much later, we'll have to do something with the food. But then, she decided against it. She and her brothers had put all this together, somehow managing to keep their parents totally in the dark about it. If she called and made a big deal about them being late, they'd know something was up. So instead she sat on the couch, near the door where she could hear them pull up and began reading the Cosmo laying on the coffee table.
"They aren't home yet?" David asked, pulling her sharply away from the utterly fascinating and slightly gross article dealing with the 'Square Inch Guaranteed to Blow His Mind'. The thought of actually touching someone there was more than mildly revolting, but lots of women seemed to agree that if you touched a guy there at just the right moment, it would 'Blow His Mind'.
"No." she answered, quickly closing the magazine. "They aren't. I thought about calling...but I don't wanna if they're just gonna be a little late."
David grinned at his still blushing sister and sat down beside her. "Whatcha readin Danny?"
Danielle blushed deeper and glared at her twin. "None of your business Davie." Her glare deepened as David's laughter increased. "Shut up David or I'll..." she started.
"You'll what?" David chortled. Danielle didn't answer him. She just grinned at him menacingly and extended her teeth, her eyes glowing bright red.
"Oh! Help! She's gonna bite me! Save me someone! Save meeeeee!" he cried in an exaggerated show of terror. "You're soooo scary Danielle." He finished, laughing at his sister who, despite her appearance, was about as scary as a wet kitten.
"I know. And don't you forget it either." She replied archly.
"What're you two monkeys up to?" Toby asked coming out of his room at last. He looked around and frowned as his eyes caught the clock. It was now nearly nine and their parents still weren't home. "So...Mom and Dad are late." He said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah, but they're probably nearly home by now." Danielle answered.
"You don't think Dad woulda done something like surprise Mom by taking her out to eat do you?" David asked worriedly. All three of them turned and looked toward the kitchen where the beautifully decorated table, carefully wrapped gifts and specially prepared meal consisting of all their parents favorite dishes sat waiting.
"Nah...Dad woulda called us to let us know they'd be late." Toby answered at last, but he didn't sound too sure.
"Well, whatever is keeping them, we'd better do something about the food or it won't be fit to eat when the do finally get home." Danielle stated. She stood and headed toward the kitchen. Just then, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway stopped her cold. "See!" Toby said happily. "They're home."
The three of them stood facing the door, waiting for their parents to come in so they could show them all the work they'd done. The wait seemed to be forever. Danielle fidgeted. Her tail jerked side to side nervously and she kept rustling her wings. Finally the sound of footsteps reached them. For a moment, Danielle wanted to yell at David to lock the door. She actually drew in a large breath to do so, but stopped herself in time. This is silly! Why would I want to lock our Mom and Dad? She wondered.
David glanced at his twin and noticed how nervous she seemed. She was twitching like crazy and her eyes had gone almost completely orange. Their colors were swirling so fast it almost made him dizzy to look at them. Not only that...she was actually sweating. David opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong when there was a knock at the door.
Toby muttered "Who the hell?" and opened the door. David moved closer to see who was there, but Danielle stepped back away from the door. Neither brother noticed though. Their attention was held by the man standing in their doorway.
"Hey kids." He said in a strangely hesitant tone.
"Hello Sheriff. Whats up?" Toby asked, a large bubble of dread building up in his chest. David stepped closer and stood beside his brother. He was beginning to feel nervous as well. Behind them Danielle was holding her hands to the sides of her head, her eyes flashing in a crazy kaleidoscope of yellow and orange.
There was a pressure building. It felt like the ski trip her parents had taken them on two years ago for her and David's thirteenth birthday. On the drive up the mountain, the change in altitude had caused her ears to fill with pressure. When she'd complained about the uncomfortable feeling, her mother told her to yawn. "Just yawn honey. You're ears'll pop and it'll feel much better." She did...and it had. Right now though, the pressure wasn't just in her ears...and she didn't think yawning would make it better. She had a bad feeling nothing would ever make it better.
"I hate like hell to have to tell you kids this...but I thought it'd be better in person."
"Tell us what Sheriff?" David asked shakily. He felt like he was going to go insane if the sheriff didn't spit it out. Part of him didn't want to know though. That part wanted Toby to close the door and lock it. To keep the Sheriff from saying whatever it was he had to say. And you know what that is don't you Davie, that part of him whispered. Why else would Sheriff Lewis come to your house? Why don't you ask him where your parents are? The voice taunted. Behind him, his sister began shaking her head slowly and whimpering softly, as if in pain.
"Well Davie...there was an accident. It weren't nobody's fault. It just happened."
"What happened!?" Toby demanded.
"Your parents were driving down Moss. A car'd stalled out just around the bend...there was no way for your dad t'uv seen it. By the time he did... He swerved to miss it and that SUV of his flipped a few times..." Lewis stopped and took his hat off. He looked both of the boys in the eye. "I'm real sorry...they didn't make it."
"Didn't......didn't...." Toby couldn't seem to get past that one word. His mouth worked silently, and his adams apple bobbed repeatedly, but the only word that would come out was 'didn't'. David wasn't saying anything. He'd gone completely pale and was just staring at Lewis. He was shaking all over and had to hold onto the doorframe for support. Lewis was worried about him...he looked kinda shocky. Then he noticed Danielle and his concern for the boys took a back seat to the fear he felt for her.
Lewis had known Danielle all her life, as had most everyone in the little one street light town of Bartsville, Texas, and while there were a few die-hard assholes who made noise about her, most people, including Lewis, didn't even notice her differences anymore. His own son Petey was one of Danielle's best friends. She and him along with her brothers and the Jenkins girl Sara even had a little rock band that practiced in his garage in the afternoons. Because of that Danielle was at his house a great deal and he'd seen her in almost every state of mind. He'd seen her so angry that she couldn't keep her claws and spines retracted. He'd seen her after her grandmother had died and she'd spent three days crying. He'd seen her happy, excited, board, worried...but he'd never seen anything like this.
"Danielle?" Lewis said her name, trying to get her attention. She didn't seem to notice he'd said anything. Toby and David both turned to look at their sister and what they saw snapped them out of their shock. She was crouched on the floor with her arms hugged across her chest and she was rocking back in forth. Her eyes were whirling frantically and were streaked with deep blues, bright oranges, and shocking yellows. What was most disturbing though, was the look on her face, which was drawn in a rictus of pain. It was like she was being tortured or something.
"Danny..." Toby started to try to comfort his little sister, thinking that it was simple grief that afflicted her. At the sound of his voice, Danielle seemed to collapse. She slumped forward and only Toby's quick reaction kept her from hitting her face on the floor. She started crying. Deep braying sobs that bordered on hysteria. Toby, David and Lewis all tried to help her, but nothing seemed to be working. She didn't respond to any of them and she began to get more and more hysterical.
The truth was that Danielle couldn't hear her brothers or the Sheriff. She hadn't been able to hear anything after Sheriff Lewis told them that their parents had died. She couldn't hear...she couldn't even really see or feel anything at all. She was trapped in a raging storm that buffeted her on all sides and within as well. Cold waves of fear rammed into her and tried to drag her down into their icy depths. Numbing fingers of shock drove themselves into her and spread. They spread throughout her body and she couldn't stop it she couldn't stop them they were killing her she was dying going insane and dying and... Then the grief hit. Sharp daggers of loss and pain and even anger cut her and flayed her open and left her vulnerable to the storm. She wanted to die...she tried to die. She couldn't...the very maelstrom that tore her apart held her together and forced her to feel everything. Now a new mixture entered in. Concern sharp and hurtful and demanding concern. It drew her even further from the promise of comforting blackness that was bordering her very being. She fought and struggled and tried to drag herself toward the blackness but the concern held her down and let the other feelings into her to tear at her to rape her and steal her away.
A part of her was apart from it all, watching it all. That part could hear, as if from a distance, voices that it vaguely remembered but couldn't place. It was just right there...if only it could remember... That part wondered detachedly if this was what it was to go insane. And finally, when the torn and bleeding and ravaged part of herself fell into the blackness, that part of her mind wondered inanely what would happen to all the food they'd cooked.
Toby held Danielle who'd finally passed out. He was cradling his sister and crying helplessly, unable to understand what had happened to her. The Sheriff had gone out to his car to radio for an ambulance to come for her. David sat beside them on the floor and stared dazedly at the clock. Eight minutes, he thought. Eight minutes ago, I was sitting on the couch with Danny...teasing her about reading Cosmo. Eight minutes ago Mom and Dad were on their way home. Eight minutes. How can a person's life fall apart in eight minutes? Shouldn't it take longer than that? Shouldn't it?
Halfway across the country, Professor Charles Xavier sat in his office writing a letter to an old friend of his in Congress. There were some very disturbing rumors flying about concerning the government's proposed Policy concerning mutants. Xavier hoped that his friend could debunk the rumors and set his mind at ease. Just as he was coming to the closing of his letter a red light began blinking on his desk...a red light that indicated that somewhere a mutant was using his or her powers for the first time.