A New Dawn

By: Sedi



Yay, chapter three! ^^ I'm really loving this fanfic... Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It's greatly appreciated! You guys are so awesome! ^_^ And don't worry, Rei will be popping up soon. It's kinda obvious that he makes some kind of appearance in this chapter. *points at the chapter title* And yes, this will be mostly Max/Rei.



Chapter Three: Reflection of Amber Eyes

Tyson had kept his promise, and returned the next day. The boy didn't knock and just barged in, much to Judy's surprise. He dashed past her and right into Max's room. Max was still asleep, and didn't even stir when Tyson entered. The smokey eyed boy started shaking the blonde, until he finally opened his blue eyes.

"Eh... Tyson...? What are you doing here?" Max blinked and yawned, arms outstretched.

Tyson grinned and picked up Max's crutch. Judy then ran in the room. "Who the hell are you?" She yelled at him, grabbing the crutch from him. Tyson extended a hand.

"My name's Tyson, ma'am!"

"Don't worry mom, he's okay," Max assured her. "I just met him yesterday while you were gone. He came here to help me unload all of my stuff."

Judy hesitated and reluctantly shook Tyson's hand. He shook it vigorously, the stupid grin still on his face. "It's nice to meet you, Miss! Let me be the first in this lowly neighborhood to say that your son is drop-dead cute!"

Max and Judy stared at Tyson as if he had just announced that he was a fifty year old man stuck in a teenager's body. Tyson shifted nervously. "I didn't mean it that way! Well, yeah, he's cute, and, well, he is! I mean... There are just a few girls around here who would definently like to meet him, if ya know what I mean." He winked at the blondes.

The blonde boy blinked, then grinned and giggled. "You're strange, you know that, Tyson?"

"You better believe it!" Tyson announced proudly.

Judy laughed and handed Max his crutch, who swung out of bed and used it to balance himself while standing up. "Before we start, can I have breakfast first, Tyson?"

"Of course! No one can start their day without breakfast. You wouldn't mind if I join you, would you?" Tyson gave Max a cheeky grin that was hard to resist.

The blonde boy giggled again. "Sure, Tyson. What're we having, Mom?"

"Pancakes, if you don't mind," Judy replied.

"I wouldn't mind any food that you put infront of me!" Tyson exclaimed.

Judy smiled and said,"I really like your friend, Max. He seems better than Jade. Well, from what I heard about him," then exited the room.

Tyson looked at Max questioningly. "Who's Jade?"

"I'll tell you later," the other boy answered quickly, hoping that he wouldn't ask again.

Both boys walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Judy was quickly stirring a bowl of pancake mix, then paused when she heard her cellphone ring. She eyed her pocket for a moment, then continued stirring, ignoring it. Max blinked.

"Aren't you going to answer it, Mom?"

"It's Sunday," Judy pointed out. "If they really need something done at the lab, then they can contact some other authority. I'm spending today here with you, no matter what the situation. I might not get the chance for a while."

"Well, if I'm going to interfer, then I should leave," Tyson calmly said, about ready to step towards the front door.

"No, it's okay, Tyson," Judy said quickly. "You can stay." She poured some of the pancake batter into a pan ontop of the stove. "After we eat, how about we start painting the living room?" The blonde woman flipped the pancake. "You can help too, Tyson, if you want."

"Yeah, I love painting houses!" Tyson exclaimed. "I helped my friend, Kenny, repaint his bedroom once. It turned out awesome! What color are you painting it? Red, green, orange, what?"

Judy laughed. "I was thinking more of a white, Tyson."

Max giggled at the disappointed look on Tyson's face.



After eating their breakfast, Judy had gotten out the white paint and rollers, then moved all of the boxes in the living room to the middle of it. "Try not to get any paint in your hair," she warned the two teen boys. "It's hard to get out. Really hard." The two boys nodded in understandment and armed themselves with the rollers.

"Read, set, whiten!" Tyson shouted. He dipped his roller in a paint tray and immediatly started covering the wooden wall with a coat of paint. Max followed this suite, and Judy used a long roller to start painting the ceiling.

Max easily painted with his free arm without a problem in balancing himself on his crutch. 'Using this crutch is really easy. Why was Mom so worried about me going up stairs? I'll probably need the practice anyway, since there are going to be stairs in the high school I'm going to, right? I should try it tonight. Mom won't like it, but she'll be really proud when she seems me at the top of the stairs!' He smiled at the thought.

Tyson looked at him and asked,"What're you smiling about? Enjoy painting this much?"

Not sure what to say, the blonde boy shrugged and giggled. "I'm just so happy to be here. So, what's the high school like here?"

The other teenager responded,"Like any other high school I guess. There are the normal, stereotypical groups in the school, like the preps, goths, freaks, etcetera. Kenny and I are mostly drifters or loners. There aren't many of them. The only other loner that comes to mind right away is Hiwatari Kai, and you want to stay away from him. He's not your average bully that steals your lunch money, but he is easily ticked off."

Max nodded to show that he was absorbing all of the information Tyson was giving him. Yeah, it sounded like any other high school, but he prayed that it wouldn't be the same as his old high school. He hoped there wouldn't be anyone like Jade in the school, but even more, Max hoped that Tyson wouldn't end up like him.

But, looking back at the previous day, the blonde boy concluded that it would be almost impossible for Tyson to do anything that was even close to what Jade did. Besides the shot in the elbow, Max believed that Jade had been leading a second life, hanging in bars, probably drinking, making friends with the wrong crowd.

"Is there something wrong?" Tyson suddenly asked, snapping Max out of his thoughts.

He looked at Tyson, then smiled. "No, I'm fine," he replied. Well, he concluded, that settles it. Tyson would never betray me. He's too good of a person.

Max smiled at Tyson again and moved his crutch a bit to regain comfortness, but the end of the crutch hit the pan of paint, causing it to slip. Poor Max slipped with it, and Tyson had to throw up his roller to catch the blonde.

As if in slow motion, the roller flew in the air and landed right in Max's hair with a "splotch" sound. The blonde cringed and said jokingly,"I think I would have rather you let me fall than get a roller stuck in my hair."

"And let you break some other bone? I think not!" Tyson laughed.

"You should go to the bathroom and wash off the paint," Judy said, giggling. "If you don't soon, the paint will dry and it will be very hard to get it out then."

Tyson retrieved his roller from Max's hair, and also took the blonde boy's roller. "You heard your mother, wash up!" he said, trying to put on a fatherly voice, but failing miserably.

Max giggled a "yes Father" and limped into the bathroom. He turned on the sink faucet and lowered his head to let the water run through his blonde hair. After scrubbing it with his hands for a moment, he looked up in the mirror to see if he got it all out, and saw amber eyes instead of his blue ones.

The teen boy gasped and stumbled backwards away from the mirror. It wasn't his reflection in it, but of a boy who looked to be about a year older than him, with raven hair, and a ying-yang headband. The shock on the raven haired boy's face was equal to that of Max's, and the false reflection quickly disappeared, replaced by Max's pale visage.

The blonde boy stepped up to the mirror again, his facial expression still that of horror. He nervously touched the mirror, which felt like, well, a mirror. Nothing out of the ordinary. But something was out of whack. Way out of whack.

Max knocked on the mirror, and it slightly swung open to reveal a medicine cabinet behind it. He opened it all of the way and peered in it. It was empty. 'Well, of course it is, me and Mom just moved in.' He knocked on the back of the cabinet to find that it was solid. There was only wall behind it.

"It was probably just my over-active imagination," Max said, forcing a laugh out of himself.

He closed the cabinet and reached into one of the boxes to pull out a towel. He dried his hair, and immediatly it went into that untamed look it always had. The boy smiled at his reflection, his own reflection, dismissing the earlier apparition as just a sign of him going crazy, then slung the towel over the shower rod and walked back into the living room.

"Sorry I took so long," he said cheerfully. "I needed to make sure that I got all of the paint out."

"No problem," Tyson replied, handing the blonde his paint roller back.

"Max, is something wrong? You're pale," Judy asked.

"No, nothing's wrong, Mom," Max lied. "Probably just the cold water. You worry just about as much as Dad."

Judy's eyes reverted away from her son when he mentioned his father and continued painting the ceiling in silence. Tyson blinked at this, and also started back on the wall again. Max sighed. He should have known this would have been Judy's reaction. Whenever he mentioned about one parent infront of the other, they would pretend they didn't hear and continue on with whatever they were doing in silence.

To break the ice, Tyson asked,"So you're going to start school here Monday, Max?"

"Yeah. In all truth, I can't wait, but I'm a little nervous," Max replied, laughing. By then he had forgotten about the raven-haired boy in his mirror and had converted his mind to think about the new school. "This is my first time moving. I never had to go to a new school before."

"Don't worry, Maxie, I'll be with you all the way. Don't forgot, you're going to my school, and I'll protect ya!" Tyson winked at the blonde boy. "Plus, you'll get to meet a few friends of mine, including Kenny."

Max's smile widened. "Great!"



The alarm clocked beeped, causing Max's eyes to fly open and pound on the sleep button. He sat up in his bed and looked at the digital numbers, which flashed ten o'clock p.m. He used his crutch to get out of his bed, and limped out of his room towards the foot of the staircase, which was in a corner of the living room. He looked around to make sure no one was around. All of the lights were off, from what he could see, so his mom was obviously in bed.

The blonde boy put his good leg on the first step in determination. 'I'm going to make it. I'm not a cripple!'



~To Be Continued



Oooo, cliffhanger... Onto the fourth chapter! ^_^ ... Soon... Eh heh... *gets hit with a book* ;; WHO THE HELL KEEPS ON DOING THAT?! Anyway... Merry Christmas folks!