Spark's Light Chapter 13: After Effects, a x-men: evolution fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution. Geez. Must I keep saying that? I don't own Burger King, either. If I did, I would be rich, and guess what? I'M NOT!

Ali pulled the sheets over her head that Saturday morning. The sun had just risen, awaking her peaceful form. She didn't want to wake up, though. She wanted to sleep some more. The fight the previous fight had worn her out. She slowly began to sink back into sleep under the protection of her blankets, thinking happily of more sleep and more rest.

A certain mutant named Kitty Pryde interrupted that little process.

The freshman bounded through the door of her dorm, jumping up and down happily. "Hey, Ali!" she cried energetically.

Ali grumbled her reply, annoyed at being disturbed.

"Guess what?" Kitty asked excitedly.

"Monkey's have taken over the world, Kurt's not leaving blue fur in the sink, and Bobby has become the perfect role model."

Kitty giggled. "Yeah, right," she replied. "Like that would ever happen."

"My point exactly," Ali muttered. "I give up. What is it?"

"It's Saturday!" Kitty cried.

Ali threw her blankets off her head and glared at Kitty. "I think we've established that its Saturday, seeing that I'm actually sleeping in past," she glanced at the clock, "ten o' clock."

Kitty nodded. "C'mon, we've got stuff to do!" she cried.

Ali shook her head. "Not me," she replied. "The only thing that I've got to do is sleep."

Kitty sighed. "You're no fun," she complained and promptly left.

"If it gets me sleep, then I'm fine with it," Ali grumbled and pulled the blanket back over her head.

Kurt suddenly ported in. "Ali, are you going to vake up or not?" he asked.

"I'm trying to sleep!" she cried underneath her covers.

Kurt shook his head. "You've got to vake up now!" he replied.

"Why?" demanded Ali, once again throwing off her covers and glaring daggers at Kurt.

"Because we're bored and we need you to power up the computer, because it's power line's been cut by Logan.

Ali rolled her eyes. "Have Berserker do it, I'm sleeping," she replied.

Kurt sighed. "Fine, have it your vay," he replied, porting away.

Ali gave a small scream a few minutes later, finding it impossible to go back to sleep. She quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a red shirt, stalking downstairs to the kitchen.

She grabbed her usual glass of orange juice and gulped it down, feeling a sore throat coming on. She could always tell when she was getting sick. Lucky her.

Logan glanced up at her. "You've beat the girl's all-time record for sleeping in the latest," he announced.

"Lucky me," she muttered, sipping her juice.

Scott suddenly came in. "Wow, you're finally up," he commented.

"Yeah, it's the most amazing miracle in the world," she commented dryly.

Scott didn't say anything. Just saying one sentence to her was an improvement. Best to leave it be.

After she finished her drink, Ali made her way through the chaotic hallways to the rec room. The computer was still down, seeing that Berserker was out. She grudgingly agreed to power up the computer until they could find another cord to hook up the electronic to the power jack.

Beast supplied them with one. Finally, no screaming teenagers whining about not having a working computer. Now, there were just screaming teenagers fighting FOR the computer.

Logan rubbed his temples. It was going to be a LONG day…

Ali walked into the training room that day. She was bored to death, and could think of nothing better to do than train. Rogue was supervising above in the danger room.

Ali pressed the button to open the Danger Room doors, but they wouldn't open. She pressed the button repeatedly for the next thirty seconds before becoming too impatient. She pressed the intercom button to talk to Rogue.

"Rogue, the door's won't open."

"Ah know," Rogue replied on the other end. "Ya might want to come to the control room, Al."

Ali walked to the control room, half annoyed that the doors didn't work and half curious as to why.

She quickly found out why when she came to the overhead room.

Apparently, Bobby had been bored the night before. He had iced all the walls and floor. He even added an ice sculpture or two.

"Logan's gonna flip," she said in awe.

Rogue nodded in agreement. She hurried out the door and into the hallway to find the professor. He would take the news better than Logan.

Unfortunately, the one person they had been trying to avoid was the one they ran into outside, who also happened to be planning on going to train in the Danger Room.

"Outta my way, kids," he grumbled. "I'm going to train in the Danger Room."

Ali and Rogue's eyes widened.

"But it's a perfect day out, why not train out there?" Rogue asked, panicked.

"'Cause I feel like training inside today," he growled.

"But Logan—" Ali began.

Logan turned around to face her. "Is there any specific reason that you don't want me to go into the Danger Room?" he asked.

Damn. He had figured them out.

The girls said nothing. With that, Logan continued to the Danger Room.

Ali and Rogue, meanwhile, remained rooted to the spot. "Get ready for it…" Ali warned.

"ICE MAN! I'LL RIP YOU APART WITH MY OWN HANDS!"

"RUN!" Rogue yelled, and she and Ali ran as fast as they could to get out of Logan's warpath.

Ali was finally able to leave that afternoon. She walked around Bayville for a while, thinking of anything and everything. Specifically, one person and one event:

John and the fight at the mall.

Ali turned the corner and spotted John looking inside a store window and sipping a drink from Burger King.

"John!" she called, quickening her step as if walking wouldn't get her there fast enough.

John turned around, his eyes lighting up. "Hey, Ali!" he replied as the other mutant reached him. "How's it going?"

Ali shrugged. "It's going ok," she replied. "Just the usual: Logan's trying to kill Bobby because he iced ANOTHER room in the mansion."

John chuckled. "Sounds interesting," he commented.

Ali nodded, looking at the ground. The two started walking down the sidewalk in silence. That was when John knew something was wrong.

"Anything bothering you, sheila?" he asked.

Ali sighed. "Yes," she replied.

"Well go ahead and tell me. Maybe I can help," he replied cheerfully.

Ali nodded. "We might want to go someplace else to talk," she replied slowly.

John frowned, but nodded. He led her to the park, which was practically deserted. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked.

Ali took a deep breath. "John, why did you try to kill Jean yesterday?" she asked.

John's frown deepened. "I wasn't trying to kill her, Ali," he replied.

"Then why were you keeping her in a flaming ball? She couldn't get out, John, and she might have suffocated!" Ali cried, looking up at the taller boy.

John stared in her eyes, finding them much more distressed than they should be.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I was going to let her out, I swear. I just had to fight because of Mags."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

John sighed. He hated thinking about why he fought for Magneto. He hated the man so much. But most of all, he didn't want Ali to know. What if she didn't like him anymore? What if she decided that she hated him? He wouldn't be able to stand her disappointment in him or the breakup that would follow.

"Ali, I fight for Magneto because he makes me," he explained. "I have no choice. I'm sorry if I scared you by keeping Jean surrounded like that. But you have to understand, if I didn't fight to the best of my ability, then Magneto would have killed me!"

Ali looked down. "You could come to the institute, John," she said quietly. "You wouldn't be forced to fight."

John sighed. "It's not that easy," he replied.

Ali looked up at him. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because Magneto's making me stay with him!"

Ali fell silent. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

John sighed and ran a hand through his fiery red hair. "I'm sorry that I yelled," he apologized. "I just don't like to say that Magneto's forcing me to do this."

Ali nodded. "If you ever want to get away from it, come to the Institute," she whispered. "You'll be welcome there."

John gave a short laugh. "Only by you, sheila," he replied.

Ali smiled weakly. "Better than being turned down by everyone," she said.

John smiled. "True," he replied with a shrug. "I'll think about it."

Ali's smile widened. She stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered.

***

Well, that ended a bit sappier than I planned. But I guess its good to have those kinds of endings. Shows that you know more than just serious and funny…I guess…