The Amphibian

Jean Grey felt the heavy weight of water fell upon her delicate face, and the immense pressure of the river falling on her almost immediately. She could not breathe. She could not speak.

'Scott…' She thought helplessly as darkness wavered about her. 'Help me…'

'Scott…'

She closed her eyes, knowing that everything was futile. Scott had left seconds ago on the plane, and there's no way he could save her.

No one could…

No one…

*            *            *

The sudden change in position of his home woke Damien Howards in an extremely rude way. Just when he had thought he could sleep in peace without anymore of those irritating fishes digging their tails in his body too.

'Can't a mutant sleep in peace in this godforsaken planet?' he grumbled heavily as he allowed the current to bring him to wherever pleases him.

As he spun himself in the cool river water, his well-adapted eyes caught sight of an unidentified sinking object. Taking a deep breath of the oxygen in the water, he pushed himself to where the 'item' was. His breath got caught in his throat when he realized that the 'item' was actually a woman. And judging by the tensed expression on her brows, she must be either holding her breath, or she does not know how to breathe underwater.

'Not everyone knows how to breathe underwater, Damien!' he reminded himself. Then, he placed his arms around the stranger's waist and swam upwards.

As they burst through the surface of the clear blue river, Damien realizes that the stranger in his arms is still not breathing.

'Oh great…'

Damien gathered his strength at his abdomen and upon release, he burst out of water like a dolphin and landed on the top of one of the pine trees. With his feet firmly on two thick boughs, he formed a waterbed beneath her. Then, after ensuring that the bed could hold her strength, he pressed his hands on her stomach and saw the fountain of water erupted from her mouth.

'Another one on my saved list,' Damien thought with a smile on his face.

*            *            *

Jean coughed and spurted out more water as she felt another pressure on her stomach. In the fogged pain of water-filled throat, Jean unleashed her telekinetic powers and stopped the pressure on her body.

"Stop…" she choked and coughed out more water. "Stop…"

"I would really appreciate it if you can let go of my hands," a deep, and somewhat frightened voice said beside her.

Jean opened her eyes and saw a young man next to her. Then she looked down and saw hundreds of feet beneath her. With a yelp in surprise, Jean sat up straight.

"Man… I don't look that bad, do I?" the young man sounded hurt, and Jean could still hear the frightened undertone in his voice.

"Sorry…" Jean apologized. She looked down at her again and saw that she was supported by a clear waterbed.

"Can you please let go of me now?" the young man said again. "It's really creepy that you're holding my hand without your hands on me."

Jean stopped her telekinetic powers. "Sorry. I didn't mean to…"

The young man seemed relieved at the release of her powers. He rubbed his wrists and formed another waterbed beneath him at the flick of his wrist.

"You can trust that bed, you know," he said, cocking his eyebrow. "My powers aren't that bad."

"Sorry…"

"Stop apologizing for goodness' sake. What are you doing down there? You shouldn't try deep diving especially since you don't have the proper equipments."

Jean looked at herself and shivered as the water had seeped past her leather uniform and on her body. The young man shook his head in exasperation and raised his hands. Immediately, all the water droplets on Jean's body were attracted to his palm and gathered as a large spherical drop.

"Better? Now… can you tell me more about yourself?"

Jean looked at the smiling face before her. "I'm… Jean Grey."

"That's better than 'Sorry…'," Damien said with a wink. He extended his other hand. "I'm Damien. Damien Howards. Nice to see a fellow mutant here at Alkali Lake. It's been a while since I met anyone who resembles a human. What are you doing here?"

Jean looked at him. "I was… I was…"

Damien leant closer to her. "You wouldn't be the one responsible for the dam breaking would you?"

"I…I…" Jean tried to phrase her words in a more tactful way. "You… You can say that."

"I'll take that as a yes…" Damien acknowledged with a sigh. "You look like you have questions for me… So… let me answer the 'Frequently Asked Questions' I had worked out these past years. I'm in a kingdom what science called 'amphibians', which means, I can live on both water and land. I can control water, like so," Damien paused and pointed his hand at the river. The water immediately shoots upwards. "And no, I'm not harmful. Anything else?"

Jean grinned. "Are you telepathic?"

"No."

"Then how did you know what I wanted to ask?"

"Call it experience. I have fishes and whales and humans asking me these questions. It's been a long time since I popped up on the surface."

"Oh… Well then… I should answer some of your questions. I'm a human, and I am telekinetic and telepathic. I can move things by my mind, like so," Jean looked intently at Damien and he started levitating. "And I'm not harmful."

The two mutants exchanged a grin. "It's nice to have someone to talk to." Damien commented.

"Thank you for saving me," Jean said sincerely.

"It's not for free you know," Damien answered with a cheeky, lopsided grin.

Jean concentrated and smiled. "I can bring you to a place where there is company… Would you like to go?"

Damien raised an eyebrow, just like the way Logan does. "Not yet. You need time to recover. Wait…"

He raised both his hands and water from the river started rising and forming into what resembles a house. A series of steps was made from Jean's waterbed to the water-house. "Like it?"

Jean smiled. "Thank you."

There was a moment of silence. "Damien?"

"Yes?"

"I'm twenty-six… over your range," Jean said with a glint in her eyes.

Damien chuckled. "Alright… Looks like I have to look further! Good night."

"Good night…"

*            *            *

=P Another story up… lol… can't stop these pair of fingers of mine. Really, I tried to though, but after watching X-men 1 and 2 at the same time, my brain started creating more plots for Jean. But no, this is not exactly a Jean & OC, but more of an OC & OC… one of the OC is Damien Howards… ^^ and the other, still creating in process. Or perhaps this may not be a romance story after all… it depends on Nature… ^_^;;; in any case, would really appreciate reviews!!! ^_^

Androme