Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men. Nor do I own bricks. Just goes to show you how money-deprived I am. I can't even afford bricks.
The park was silent, save for the rare chirping of birds and a slight breeze rustling the trees and bushes. Clouds gathered overhead, this time only a slight gray. The birds, sensing the oncoming storm, quickly flew away and gathered on some power lines, watching the park with curious eyes.
Ali led her friends into a small clearing in the park, her eyes wary and angry. Behind her, she could sense Rogue taking off one glove and Remy shuffling his deck of cards. Logan unsheathed and sheathed his claws, growling every once in a while. Storm glanced around uneasily, waiting for any attack to try and harm the African goddess. Scott's hand strayed up to his visor, ready to rip it off and give the enemy a taste of raw power at any moment. Jean was discreetly reaching out with her mind, trying to sense if the enemy was nearby. Kitty shivered involuntarily. She wasn't cold; no one was. But the tension that was building around them was getting to her. Kurt backed up a step, sensing the amount of danger around them almost skyrocketing. And that was when everyone knew that they were there.
Five people stepped from the shadows of the trees, all glaring at the group with utter loathing. Magneto stood in the middle, flanked on one side by Ali's father and mother, and on the other by Sabertooth and Mastermind. Sabertooth growled upon smelling Logan and seeing him. This fight would determine the true victor; Logan would be sure of that.
"Well, Charles. It would seem that you have managed to take back Ali from her rightful place. How very kind of you," Magneto spat sarcastically.
Xavier watched Magneto with hard eyes. "She came to me wishing to know the truth. I revealed it to her, and she chose from there," he replied calmly. "It was of her own free will."
"Liar!" screamed Ali's mother, becoming extremely emotional over the prospect of permanently losing her daughter. Her blue eyes frantically turned to Ali, begging for the young mutant to join her. "Ali! Please! Come back!"
Ali's green eyes were hard and unforgiving as she glared at her mother. This was the woman who had given birth to her, who had raised her until she was five. Who Ali thought she had known. And though it nearly broke her heart to do what she was about to, Ali knew that it needed to be done.
"No," she replied firmly, watching her mother's eyes widen in surprise. The woman fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. "I've lost her. I've lost my baby," she moaned as her shoulders shook with the body-jerking sobs.
Ali's heart broke in that instant. She couldn't bear to see her in so much pain. She took a step forward, but felt John grab her arm and pull her back. "John!" Ali cried, her eyes pleading for him to let go.
But John held tight. He shook his head, telling her firmly that he wouldn't let her go. "You just got back. And you know what they did to you before. They may do worse this time," he explained quietly, revealing his fears to his girlfriend.
Ali reluctantly admitted that he was right, and turned her eyes back to her mother, forcing herself to watch the scene before her.
Ali's father was kneeling down beside his wife, rubbing her back and murmuring soothing words. When his wife wouldn't stop crying, he picked her up and set her against a tree, brushing back some hair from her face. He then turned to the X-Men, his eyes burning with uncontrollable fury. But most of it was directed towards Ali, the one who had caused his wife so much grief.
John, upon seeing the murderous look in his eyes, pulled Ali back beside him. He would do all that he could to keep Ali alive, even if it meant dying.
Magneto glanced at Sabertooth, who was ready to fight. He raised his arm in the air and pointed two fingers at the X-Men, signaling for his troops to attack.
And attack they did. Sabertooth charged forward, tackling Logan to the ground. Logan used the momentum to propel himself backwards and send Sabertooth flying headfirst into the wall surrounding the park. It was at that moment that the brawl began, in which one of the two would emerge the victor. Each was determined to come out on top.
Mastermind knew exactly what he had to do. He called up his powers and focused on John. If John was lost and confused, then Ali could easily be dealt with.
John watched the enemy with eagle eyes, waiting for someone to step forward and dare to challenge him. Suddenly, a wall of fire erupted all around him. He smirked, thinking that he could easily control the flames. But when he tried to make them disappear, nothing happened. If it was possible, the flames became bigger and moved closer to him. Sweat beaded on his forehead as panic rose in his throat and the rest of his body. What was he going to do? Ali was gone, she was possibly being killed, and he was stuck inside this cage, with the possibility of being roasted alive looming near. "Ali!" he yelled. "Someone! Help!"
Ali, who was still beside, him, looked to him with a look of pure confusion. "John, I'm right here!" she replied, waving a hand in front of his face.
But John didn't seem to notice. If possible, he seemed even more worried. "I can't control the fire!" he yelled. "Someone! Help!"
Ali didn't know what was going on. She grabbed John by the shoulders and began to shake him roughly, trying to bring him back to reality before things got out of hand. "John!" she yelled, watching his panicking eyes worriedly. "John! I'm all right! Everything's fine! Snap out of it!"
John's eyes strayed down to her, but seemed to see right through her. In fact, he didn't seem to see her at all.
It was then that Ali realized what must have been happening. She whirled around and spotted Mastermind, his eyes closed in concentration. Anger exploded inside her as her power grew. Her eyes transformed to their terrifying neon blue and her hands became engulfed in blue electricity. She fired a beam of energy at Mastermind, determined to save John from the illusion that was scaring him so badly.
Just as the electricity was about to strike the mutant, a metal bench flew through the air and absorbed the attack. Ali's eyes darted around, searching for what had caused the interference.
Magneto hovered in the air nearby, his cold eyes glaring at Ali. "You have a score to settle with your father," he said.
That was when Ali felt the cold jet of water strike her in the stomach. She gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs and she was flung backwards into the brick wall. She moaned and looked up, just to see her father advancing towards her with his hand outstretched towards her. His green eyes, so much like hers, were as cold and unforgiving as her own had been when she had been brainwashed. But there was a murderous look looming in his eyes that sent a shudder up Ali's spine.
"You'll pay for what you did," he said a deathly quiet voice. Above all the noise around them, Ali could hear his words plain as day. Her father suddenly sent another jet of water at Ali, which she quickly dodged by rolling to the side.
"You abandoned your mother and I when we offered to give you a home," he said, sending a stream of water towards her. Ali again rolled to the right, her eyes wide as she was put back on the defensive.
Her father continued to advance towards her, his hand still outstretched. "You broke your mother's heart," he said as another spurt of water shot from his hand and struck the wall where Ali had been only a second before.
"You refused to believe the truth." Ali barely dodged in time, finding her muscles beginning to become sore. She pushed the pain away, telling herself that she needed to focus on her father if she wanted to live.
"You completely disregarded what happened in the past and how much we love you, only thinking of your own selfish needs!" With that, a powerful jet of water shot forward, and Ali's father prayed that it would hit the mark.
Ali quickly rolled to the right, and as she was on her front, her father sent another powerful spurt towards her, which struck her dead center. She groaned as she slumped forward, pain running through her back.
Suddenly, her father was at her side, and he grabbed a handful of hair and jerked her up. "You'll pay with your life," he whispered, preparing to send his most powerful burst of water into his daughter's head.
Ali was shaking slightly. Partly from fear, and partly from anger. She quickly summoned up her courage, realizing that she had no other choice than the one that had burst into her mind. Fists charged with electricity and green eyes transformed to electric blue. "Go to hell," she whispered furiously, sending a powerful burst of electricity into her father's body.
Mike Broderick's scream of pain pierced the noise around them and he clutched his head in pain. His back arched and he began to convulse, his scream of agony never wavering. Finally, he dropped to the ground, limp and paler than before. No one stepped near him, all too shocked by the scene for a simple thought to even occur except one:
My God. Is he dead?
Only Sabertooth and Wolverine's brawl broke through the silence and reminded everyone that there was a battle going on, and a crucial one at that. John was still out of it, sweating uncontrollably and screaming for help. Ali's mother was sobbing underneath the arms of the tree. Jean and Scott were battling Magneto with Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue's help. Storm, meanwhile, was making sure that no stray attacks hit the Professor.
And then Colossus showed up. Things seemed to go downhill from there as the X-Men were forced to regroup, sending Scott, Storm, and Kitty to fight him.
Ali scrambled up, her legs shaking from the fact that she might have killed her father. But she pushed the thought from her mind when she realized that John needed help. She began to run towards Mastermind, charging her fists at the same time. Her eyes once again switched to neon blue, glaring at Mastermind all the while. She quickly shot a bolt of energy at him, intending to stop what he was doing to John.
But the electricity never hit him. It ricocheted off an invisible shield and struck a tree, sending bark flying from the trunk. Ali's eyes widened, disbelieving what she had seen. How was that possible? Mastermind was only a telepath, or that was what the Professor had told her. So what had happened?
"Ali, honey, you forgot about me," whispered a voice.
Chills ran up Ali's spine when she realized who the voice belonged to: Her mother. No, she had been crying under the tree only a minute ago.
"Remember, Ali, your father and I are a team," Alice said in a deadly whisper. "You mess with one of us, you mess with both of us. And you're about to go through hell and back for what you did to him, me, and both of us."
As soon as she was done speaking, Ali felt a sharp stab of pain in her head. She groaned and clutched her head with her hand, glaring at her mother. She raised her left arm, willing her mutant power to travel through her arm and into her hand so that she could attack. But suddenly, another stab of pain went through her head, this time stronger than the first. Ali groaned again and her arm dropped limply to her side as she unconsciously took a step back. Her mother continued with the mental attacks that continually increased in power, finally driving Ali to the point of screaming. Storm flew over and attacked Alice, sending powerful bolts of lightening at the telepath. It hit dead on, causing Alice to scream in agony and fall the ground beside her husband, motionless, with her hand only an inch from Rick's.
Storm touched down on the ground and ran over to Ali, helping the girl to her feet. "Ali, are you all right?" she asked, her blue eyes searching Ali's face worriedly.
Ali nodded. "We've got to help John, though," she replied, pointing to John.
Storm nodded and allowed Ali to stand on her own, staying nearby to help steady the girl if she fell.
Ali concentrated, feeling the familiar feeling of electricity running through her veins. She took a deep breath and lifted her right arm, focusing all of her powers on her arm. Electricity suddenly flew from her limb and rushed towards Mastermind. This time, there was nothing to stop it, and it struck his stooped figure in the shoulder. He gasped and his eyes snapped open in surprise. His concentration broke in that instant, and he fell backwards, unconscious.
Meanwhile, Ali stumbled backwards but managed to regain her bearings. She watched the glazed look disappear from John's eyes and realization dawn on his face. He looked around frantically and spotted Ali, rushing over to her immediately.
"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked, his eyes combing over her face.
Ali couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. She suddenly frowned upon noticing that the other X-Men were having trouble fighting Colossus and Magneto. Upon seeing even more X-Men join the fight, Magneto opted out of the fight and retreated, taking Colossus with him.
John walked over to Ali after the fight and hugged her. It seemed as though he had found out what happened. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his eyes closed.
Ali pulled away, confused as to why he would say that. "For what?" she asked.
John didn't meet her gaze. "For failing to protect you like I said I would," he replied.
Ali rolled her eyes. "You had an excuse," she pointed out. "Your mind was altered or something because of what looked like a ninety-two year old man."
John smiled. "Yeah, that's true," he replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Vell, vat are we vaiting for? Let's go party!" Kurt yelled. "We won! Zey're gone!"
Ali and the rest of the group smiled and nodded. They couldn't agree more with what Kurt had said. So they completely disregarded Ali's parents and left the park, heading back to the Institute. They needed to just let loose and have fun. And they deserved it. Mutants, more than anyone else, needed to just have fun.
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Well, what do you think? I just gotta tell you real quick, that this is probably the second to last chapter of this story. Kinda sad, if you ask me. I liked writing this, and I loved the feedback I received from all of you. But, there is hope. If you want me to continue, I will start a sequel. If not, I will begin writing another story called Forbidden Kitty. Either way, I will start Forbidden Kitty. But you guys have to tell me if you want a sequel or not! It's up to you! And, if I write a sequel, I want to know what you guys want more of, like more action, more romance, more humor, etc. YOU the PEOPLE (wow, sounds like a Presidential campaign speech…erg) choose what the next story will have more of. Now, just to get out of the pres mood, I'm gonna say that I might just write a sequel for the hell of it. There. Haha.
Ok, before I get TOO insane (if possible) I'll move onto reviewers (even though there are none because I put this up like 10 minutes after the last chapter):
Karakin: (about the chapter 12 review) I'll try to answer all those questions in the last chapter.
Please, people, R&R! I really want to get some feedback from you! From all the people who have reviewed my stories! So go click the little box that says 'Go' in it to review. If you're still reading this, then what are you doing? REVIEW! Sorry, too much sugar for me…
~Jojo~