Death is life's way of telling that you've been fired
R. Geis
Azzandra: Hmmm…how indeed? As far as the energy signatures, Dahk and Danny's power focuses only on animals. So they can only see dead animals. As for the Power, it may have a less than helpful effect if humans come in contact with it.
Rogue77: Herman loved his cherries, but I had to grab the last eight boxes and hide them, because I don't want him to slip into a sugar coma.
Laureate:Cupcake's eating habits will be revealed later. Herman informs me that he would love to eat your chocolate mousse. Just don't send too much, he'll get too fat to fly.
HoneyBug17: I love my strange OC's! I actually drew a picture of Cupcake. He looks cute in a morbid way.
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She moved.
Slowly touching the ground in swift synchronization, she poured on her strength and speed and sped past the closing door, crouching away from the voices of the mutants. They were the enemy. She slipped up the steps like a shadow and disappeared into the halls.
There were many dangers, for all knew she wasn't a welcome visitor…
"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! IT'S A SPIDER!"
Apparently very unwelcome.
Sunny swept past the screaming woman and headed down the hall fast.
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"Aww….Cupcake, look. A sewer. Let's go."
I stepped aside as he pulled the manhole cover and a large slab of concrete up. Who knew that the easiest way out of the city was within school grounds? I grinned. Now it was only a matter of time.
A sudden wave of exhaustion hit me. I fell to my knees. Cupcake loomed over me, concerned.
I had stayed awake too long. It was time to hand the controls back to Danny.
"Danny!" I hissed. I felt her stir in the back of my mind.
\Yes? /
"I'm too tired. You have to take over. Remember- we have to follow the instructions that we got. Or else he'll get away and we'll never have our revenge!"
\…alright… /
"Good." I whispered as the world began to darken.
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I slowly raised my head up. Cupcake was still there. His monstrous maw was very close to my face, and I would have been afraid if I didn't know he wouldn't hurt me.
"It's time to go." I whispered as I patted him on the cheek. I got up. My legs and arms felt as if they didn't quite reach the rest of my body, as if I had woken up from a very long sleep. A thought struck me. I looked around and spied a mirror.
My hair had changed back to the lighter brown and my eyes were once again blue. I could only assume that it was the Power's doing.
And I was Danny Nesmond. Wide awake. Dahk was there…somewhere…she was gone again. Sleeping. She had used too much of the Power. And left …our-her-…my body in a mess. My body was weak and weary. I needed to sleep, even though my mind was wide awake.
I turned and jumped into the hole that Cupcake made. Cupcake jumped in after me.
Mommy changed.
(Don't worry about it. I'm still your Mommy.) I told him reassuringly. He tilted his big head and walked after me as I moved into the darkness.
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Hezibah's angry snarls and Doggy's wild barks brought Spike's attention from the phone. It was the institute, telling him that Danny had disappeared, but there was a look-a-like of her wandering around the high school. He really couldn't see Danny going back to school in the summer.
'Spike? What's going on?' His Aunt was still on the other line.
"I'm gonna have to call you back." He whispered as he put down the phone. He walked over to the two canines. They were bristling and snarling at the door, not at something behind, but at it, as if they wanted to leave this moment and the door was a major inconvenience.
"Is it Danny?" He asked of Doggy. The wolfhound turned it's head and looked him in the face, solemnly answering him. "I suppose you wouldn't take me to her?"
The dog dropped his head, as if ashamed of disappointing an old friend. Spike nodded. He unlocked the door, letting it open so the two canines could barrel through it. Hezibah stopped a little down the ways and looked back at him at a glance, but then kept going.
"Take care of my baby cousin!" He called after them.
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"Spiders! A hideous spider was in my make-up!" Chrissy screeched in anger. Her face was red with rage.
Ray and Rahne sat several feet away from the spectacle as Chrissy complained to Ororo about how the institute was a mad house and a bug pit.
"I must ask you to remain calm-"
"-Remain calm?! You have a horrific infestation of bus in this mansion! I'm going to tell mummy!" She stomped off and left a very angry looking Storm in her wake. Ray and Rahne started to back up as her eyes started sparking, and were immensely relieved when she walked out to the grounds towards her greenhouse.
"Well…That was different." Rahne remarked quietly. Ray nodded. Something moving on the edge of his eye caught his attention.
"Hey…Look!" He pointed at something moving across the wall, leaving a powdery dust trail behind it.
Rahne giggled and clapped her hands over her mouth as the Sunspider left little makeup tracks behind it. It's dark fur was covered in light colored face powder.
"I don't think that's her color." She snickered. Ray shook his head, trying to hide the grin threatening to break across his face.
And the little Sunspider went on.
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Mommy sleeps?
( Yeah.) I told him wearily. (Mommy is gonna rest on this stone thing right here.)
I'll protect Mommy.
(I know. Be careful.) I lay down in a storm drain as he crouched down next to me, on guard for anything.
I slipped into sleep.
It was so quiet. I couldn't even hear Cupcake's breath anymore. But I heard something else…
I landed without a sound on a grassy knoll. The grass was knee high and there were pretty orange flowers growing on stalks just at the height where a four year old could smell them.
"Da-ahk! Wait!"
"You're such a baby. NYAAAAHHHH!"
I jerked around to watch as a four year old kid and another rushed past me. They didn't see me.
"Hey Danny, wanna see me jump off the neighbor's roof?"
"Dahk! That's bad! We'll get in trouble and you'll get hurt!"
The darker haired of the two was wearing identical clothes to her companion, with a devious grin on her face.
"Not if you do it!"
"Oh great," I groaned. "I know how this'll end up."
"I thought it was fun. I actually got you to do something against the rules," Dahk said beside me. I jumped. I hadn't seen her come.
"You broke my leg!" I glowered at her. She grinned back at me.
"YOU did that. You didn't have to climb the roof."
"Yeah…but you double dog dared me…."
Dahk dissolved into a fit of giggles. After an embarrassed moment, I started laughing too. Then I looked at her.
"Why did you leave? When did you leave? I can't remember."
Dahk put on an air as if she was thinking, then said quietly, "I left…that one day."
"Gee, thanks for being so specific."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Would you let me finish?"
"Nobody's stopping you."
"You are!"
"Shut-up!"
"AIIEEEEE!"
"…."
"I just fell off the roof."
"Uh….yep." We looked over towards where our mini selves were standing. Little Danny was on the ground, bawling and holding her leg as little Dahk raced around her, frantically trying to get me calmed down.
"I'm Sorry! I'm Sorry!"
"….Waaaaaahhhhh! *sniffle* hic…."
"I'm sorry! Don't hate me!" Little Dahk had little Danny wrapped up in her arms, rocking her back and forth. Little Danny hugged her back.
"Awww….."
"Why is it that when I'm with you, I always get hurt in some way?" I asked with a glare.
"You do not!" Dahk protested.
"Yes I do! Remember the ice cream accident?"
"So you got tossed in one of the ice cream containers."
"I almost suffocated. It was on my head for twenty minutes before I managed to eat my way out of it."
"But it was your favorite flavor."
"I got three cavities."
"But you had fun. Admit it."
"…Okay, it was fun."
Dahk grinned at me. Our mini me's were gone. The sky around us were darkening and clouds were rolling in.
"What happened that day?"
"You got stuck in an ice cream container?"
"No…The day you left for good." I asked patiently.
Dahk looked up to the sky and tapped her foot. "You know what this place is? It's the field right outside our house. We always had fun, didn't we? Smelling the flowers, playing with the mice, dancing in the grass."
"Get to the point."
"Donnie and Chrissy. They told us to grow up. On our birthday too. Our fifth birthday. Can you believe that? They told us to take our lives seriously, they put on airs as if they knew so much and we were just little brats. Like we could never know the stuff they knew." She sounded so bitter. "Mom and Dad too. Remember what they said? Imaginary friends aren't real. Go out and find some new friends. That's what they said." She looked up at me with those green eyes.
"And you believed them. You were so ready, so willing to make them happy. Because you looked up to them." She shook her head. "I disappeared because I wasn't needed anymore. Because you thought what they said was true. In essence, you could say I became a ghost."
"But you were still there," I returned quietly.
"Yeah. I couldn't let you become like Chrissy, now could I? Or Donnie."
"And you influenced me in some ways."
"Yeah. You were never capable of anger. Or rage. Just something you thought was hate but only came out to an extreme dislike. To put my actions into simpleness….You're a wimp."
I rolled my eyes. "What a way to build my self-esteem."
"You have self-esteem. I have pride. You have compassion. I am hate. You love, I possess. You remember. I easily forget. You are scared to act. I plunge blindly in. You have an underlying cunning. I have an exposed bravery mixed with treachery. You are weak. I'm strong. You shy away from conflict. I stand up for what I believe is right. You cry. I rarely do."
"Is there a point to this?" I asked quietly.
"Yes. We are broken. We used to be I."
"When did that happen?"
"A long time ago…" She waved her hand dismissively. I got the impression she didn't remember. "Hey…"
I looked up as she pointed to the sky.
"It's going to rain."
"Hurry Danny! We're gonna miss the first drops!"
"Don't leave me behind Dahk!"
The two mini me's ran into the field and looked up to the sky. The sky opened up and it began to rain.
"Yay!" Both children squealed and began to jump around and twirl in the rain as it poured down. Dahk and I watched.
"How is this possible?"
"How is what possible?" Dahk asked.
"This." I waved my hand at the field.
"Oh this? Don't worry, it ain't some new power…it's a memory. You're dreaming."
"Oh."
"You know…"
"What?"
"We never dance in the rain anymore. Why is that?" Dahk said as she watched the little girls as they danced around in the field.
"Because I grew up…" I said as the rain fell around me.
"Because I grew up and you're not supposed to do those things anymore…"
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How sad…
Aright, tune in next time:
Morlocks and mayhem
Kally is taking reviews! Herman gave himself a tummy ache…