It is worth dying to find out what life is.
T.S. Eliot

Rogue77: Oh believe me, Danny is going to have a special moment with Chrissy…

HoneyBug17: Arcy shall be mentioned next chapter.

Asteria: I like him too.

Flamingo1: Dahk is a play off the word Dark, which explains Dahk's exterior personality.  Anyone not familiar with her interprets her as evil.

Laureate: Yay! I'm glad I cleared it up.  Thanks for the Mousse.

torque: She has a sort of personality disorder, but it's the kind that the mind makes to protect itself.  More on that later. :)

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I stirred.

I got up and sleepily wiped my eyes, my body feeling rested but myself feeling incredibly depressed.

Mommy?

"Yes?" I glanced up at the hovering muzzle above me.  He was looking at me like a chick looks at a mother hen.

"Are you hungry?"

An odd rumble/purr met that statement.  I allowed myself a brief smile.

"We'll walk a little bit then we'll rustle up some chow.  Okay?"  Another rumburr.

I got up slowly.  My legs felt a little stiff from having curled up in the storm drain for so long. I stretched a little, then started walking down the long tunnel.

Dahk was asleep. She had overexerted herself more than we had realized, I supposed.

The sewer was wet and cold.  And not having any shoes on didn't help.  Hospitals don't give out shoes.  Not that I cared.  Ever since I got back into control of my body I had begun to feel a sort of indifference.  Towards me. As if the thought that what happened to my body didn't really matter, because I wasn't connected that way anymore.

I didn't care.

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"Well…they're dead."

"Gee, Rahne. We knew that!"

Rahne, Scott, Bobby, Kurt, Jean, Tabitha, Lance, and Todd stood outside the school.  The swarm was gone, and the ground was littered with dead bugs.  That were not moving.

Scott lightly pushed Bobby away before he could make another comment to Rahne.  "Can you smell Danny?"

"Actually, yes and no."

"Could you be more specific?"

"Well, It is Danny."

"Then why no?"

"Because Danny is with somebody else, but it really isn't," She said as she shape shifted into a werewolf, sniffed the air, and changed back into a human.

"You lost us." Lance informed her.

"Well, you see, it's Danny.  But it's like she's having an actual transforming identity crisis.  I smell her, and a meaner, darker version.  But still her."

"What? She's Jekyll and Hyde, yo?"

"Yeah…but she isn't afraid of her other half.  If she was, I'd smell the fear. And…I think there's something in the science labs."

The group tentatively walked into the school and made a beeline to the labs. An odor met their nostrils, very pungent.  The door was ajar. Jean pushed it open.

"Whoah….What's the deal with the Barbeque?" Tabby asked as she stared.

A big pile of ash that had bones sticking out of it sat in the middle of the lab. Around the edge lay scattered flowers and tree branches, not settled in any particular order, but at the same time looking as if it was placed deliberately, rather than being dropped on the floor.

"Guys…" Kurt whispered quietly.  They looked where he was pointing.  There, on the wall, was writing.

FROM THEM I CREATED LIFE.

R.I.P.

"What is that written in?" Bobby squeaked.  Scott moved forward to look at it.

It was the color of dried blood.

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"Yay!"

"Hey look! It's the bald man!"

"Don't you go near them!"

"Shut-up, Chrissy!"

"Why you little brat!"

"If she didn't say it, I was." Spike commented from his book as he turned the page.  The twins were sitting on his lap.  They were leaning against his chest, watching boredly as the other kids raised hell.

"BE quiet, Spike!"  Chrissy hissed angrily.  "It's your fault that Danielle turned out the way she did."

"She's Danielle now? You used to just call her Danny."

"She deserves some respect.  After all, she's been dragged through the most horrific ordeal any little girl could be put through. Being a mutant and all."

Professor Xavier did his best to control his temper. Chrissy Nesmond had been a pain for as long as she'd been in the mansion.

Rogue snuck up behind Chrissy, out of everyone's eyesight.  She had something in her hand, something large and furry.  She dropped it on Chrissy's saucer, which he had put down in order to chastise Spike, which wasn't working.

Spike raised an eyebrow questioningly at the Rogue. She had just appeared from behind Chrissy, wearing a far too innocent expression.  He knew that expression.  He practically invented it.  Chrissy glared at her in her normal hissy way and picked up her cup and saucer from the table. She put the saucer and cup up to her mouth, as all proper ladies do, and Spike barely had time to see the massive spider jump on her head.

"AAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"  Chrissy's high pitched scream caused Spike to grab his ears.  The twins jumped off his lap and started screaming as well, and mimicking Chrissy's seizure like moves to get the spider off her head, even though it had jumped off already.

He spied the little spider scurry off down the hall.  The war wasn't over.

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I winced lightly as my hand scraped across the rough stones.  It still wasn't healed from Dahk's 'ceremony'.  The cuts were across the top of my hand, thin enough so that they were only scratches and would heal. Dahk does not self-mutilate herself. But she did think a small blood sacrifice would be worthy of an animal funeral pyre like that. 

"Who are you?"
I jerked to a sudden stop, narrowing my eyes at the darkness.  I saw nothing. Then a boy came out of the darkness.  He was my age, perhaps younger, and blonde.  A mutant.

Those spikes in his face were a dead give away.

"I'm Evan. What's your name?"

"Does it matter?" I asked dully.  Depression does that to you.

"Uh…yeah. C'mon.  Hey, are you a mutant?  You'd have to be, if you're in Morlock territory."

"Yes. I suppose I would." I said with indifference.  I had never heard of the Morlocks except in passing conversation. 

"Hey…" He started getting defensive.  "You think you're superior or something?"

"Not really.  I just don't want to talk to you."

"What is your problem, man?"

"You're giving me a headache." My tone caused Cupcake to growl angrily.  Evan took a step back.  From his position, he couldn't see my little patchwork love.

"What is that?"

"A little piece of art.  Get out of my way, please." I felt that cold throbbing in my gut again.  Heartbeats…

"Callisto…" He called behind his shoulder.  I felt the throbbing turn painful.  But I didn't move. 

There was scuffling in the tunnels behind him.  I could hear it.  Cupcake did too. I felt his tension. 

A woman with a patch over her eye came out of the shadows.  Evan moved behind her.

"Careful Callisto, there's something behind her…"

"My name is Callisto." She held out a hand warily. "Are you friend or foe?"

"I am neither. Get out of my way. I have to get to New York."

"Don't be a fool.  You're a mutant, they'll try to kill you…stay with us.  We can be family. You and your friend."

"I have a family. I don't need you.  If you don't get out of my way, you'll regret it."

"Is that a threat?" She growled at me.  I looked her square on.

"It's a fact."

She reached over to grab my shoulder.  Cupcake burst out of the shadows and tossed her into several other mutants.  A girl grabbed his fur with her hands and he snarled angrily as he froze.  The cold feeling suddenly got extremely hot.  Power began to flow into my hands and formed a misty cloud about them.  The girl advanced on me with misshapen hands, and everything tinged in green again.

I touched her.  Only a tap.  She screamed in pain and fell back.  Callisto tried to attack me.  She only got so far before I caught her face in my hands.  She screamed too and the other mutants ran back.

Grim satisfaction filled me.  They wouldn't attack me again. I turned my attention to Cupcake, who was already beginning to move again.  He was too big to keep paralyzed with what she gave him.

"Who the heck are you?"

I turned to the voice.  Evan, the only one who hadn't fled.  I gave a sardonic smile.

"I'm Grim.  The Reaper."

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Looks like Danny gave herself a code name.

Tune in Next time

Dahk VS The big Apple

Or

Small time crooks versus The Reaper.

Doggy shall take reviews today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!