Songs of Power Chapter Seven
Disclaimer: I own Mia, Ally, Dr. Gonnal, Ben and Lucas. Mattb3671 owns Mally. Somebody rich owns everyone else. (Hmmm, that sounds rather wrong...)
Shout-Outs:
Mattb3671: Hey there! Glad to see you're back to writing! I love your story, so it makes me happy! I'm also happy you don't mind me messing with anything even remotely normal and skewing it according to my own flawed view of the world... Also, THANKS!
MuggleBuddy: Well, the new kids are explained in this chapter! I hope you like them! I'm happy you like my story. Thank you for your faithful reviews! Feel free to drop me an email whenever you're bored!
LalaithCat: Hey there, Lali! Here are a whole bunch of question marks (I have lots and then some spares) so you don't run out. Gambit is awsome, as are altos!
On with the ficcage!
The next day the two new students introduced themselves to the Institute at breakfast.
"Who're you" asked Lucas, who was sitting next to Mia.
"I'm Mia," she said. "The person on the other side of me is Ally. Do you, perchance, sing at all"
"No, I can't say I do. Why do you ask?" responded the bemused new student, brushing a loose strand of blond hair out of his ice-green eyes. He would have looked very Scandinavian if not for the extremely tan skin.
"Well, I love singing, myself. I'm always looking for new recruits for the Choir. Which is, perhaps not coincidentally, my reason for asking. What's your mutation?"
"You have no idea how weird it is to hear that question in an every-day situation," said Luke. "Anyways, I'm an electrokinetic; I can control energy, channel it, shape it to my will, take it from other sources, like storm clouds, computers and other electrical junk. Only thing is, I can't create it myself." As an afterthought he added"Also my hair turned blonde; it used to be black. My eyes used to be blue."
"You'd do well on a team with Ororo or Ray," said Jubilee, who'd been listening in. "They can both create electricity. Or lightning, in Storm's case. By the way, I'm Jubilee. I can shoot fire-work type things out of my hands."
"Really? Cool. I can't create anything, just control it. What do you do, Mia?"
"I already told you" she said dryly. "I sing."
"No, I mean your mutation."
"Ignore her, she's messing with you" said Rahne. "She can melt things with her voice."
"And who're you" asked a slightly-overwhelmed Lucas.
"I'm Rahne" she said with a grin. "Code-named Wolfsbane. I'm the Institute's resident werewolf."
"Reeallly..."
On the other side of the room the other new kid, Ben, was talking to Jean and Scott. He was completely bundled in several coats, a thick pair of pants, snow boots, scarf, mittens and hat. The only visible features were a shock of light-brown hair and slightly darker brown eyes.
"So" said Jean kindly. "What are your powers"
Ben looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm cold all the time."
"You mean you can create ice like Bobby" asked Scott.
"No" sighed the boy. "It means I'm cold. As far as anyone can tell my mutation has had no physical effects, new gifts or anything. Except to make me really, really cold. All the time."
"Oh." said Jean, brow wrinkling slightly. Ben was the first mutant she had met that didn't have any practical uses to their gift. "Why"
"Dr. McCoy says that it's a bit of a gimmick. I'm partly changed, which was enough to alert Cerebro to me, but it hasn't had its full effect on me yet. I'm sorta caught in an intermediate stage."
"Uh..." said Jean again. Now that THAT detail had been brought to light, she didn't feel like discussing her and Scott's gifts. It just wouldn't be fair.
"Oh, don't look so embarrassed." said Ben amiably. "It's not your fault and there's nothing you can do to change it. Anyways, what's your gift"
The day passed without remark. Ditto the next week, until that Saturday, when the students who would be leaving left.
A week later, two days after Christmas, the x-jet landed just long enough to let out Mia, Fred, Todd, Lance, Rogue, Tabby, Remy, Ben and Lucas (the new kids) and, surprisingly, Ally.
"I believe I know who all of you are," said a man, presumably Dr. Gonnal, striding over, "except for you, dear. What's your name?"
"I'm Ally and, um, I'm not a mutant. It's a long story but pretty much Professor Xavier now has custody of me and sent me along with Mia who's one of long-time friends. It's not a problem, is it?"
Flashback: "Your school report said that you did not have a good home life" Xavier stated, the question directed at Ally. The two were sitting in his office.
"My mother has always abused me and my younger siblings. My father didn't intervene when he was alive; my stepfather helps her if he's drunk enough" she stated, head bowed.
"If you would like it I could take custody" he stated. "I've asked your parents, and they believe it may be for the better as well. The papers are already signed."
A terse nod of the head was the only answer he got. "I will sign them. I believe it will be for the better if you go with Dr. Gonnal, along with Mia."
"I'll go" said Ally with a sigh. An awkward silence fell for a few seconds.
"Do you have any other questions" asked Professor Xavier finally.
"My parents didn't care if you took custody, did they" said Ally. The silence signaled the affirmative answer to the question.
Ally's face was somehow relieved.
Back to normal time:
"That's fine! It's very nice to meet all of you! Inside you'll find one other student I recruited earlier."
They all walked up the long graveled path to the building, silent except for the crunching sounds their feet made and a quiet, tuneless humming from Ally. "Will you stop that" Tabby finally snapped.
"Sorry" she said guiltily. "It's sorta a reflex. Nervous habit kinda thing." Silence fell once more.
In the entryway was a shadowy figure, apparently waiting for them. It was misshapen on first sight, with strange protrusions, but as the person came into the light, it became apparent she had wings, thoughvery different from Angels' wings; these were less like, well, angels' wings, and more like a birds; they started at her shoulder blades, then went down to approximately her knees before curving back up to fold neatly across her back.
They were feathered in a smoky black with a blue sheen to it, very drab until she came into the light to expose the slight iridescence. The feathering continued along the tops of her arms and her back, disappearing into her hairline, which was black and framed her wide, round golden eyes.
The girl broke the mysterious beauty she presented, backlit by the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side, by announcing "Hi! I'm Sarah!" In a cheery tone of voice.
After everyone had introduced themselves (I'm not typing it out. Absolutely and definitely not.) Sarah offered to show them around their new home.
"So you can fly" asked Ally as they walked along. To her surprise Sarah blushed a deep, deep red.
"Ummm... I'm afraid of heights. Really, really really afraid of heights. I don't know if I can fly because I'm too nervous to get off the ground."
"Ohhhh..." said Mia. "Yeah, that would be a problem."
"I can understand how you feel," put in Ben, who was still wearing a thick coat, though he had taken off his gloves. "As far as I can tell, the only thing my mutation's done is make me really, really cold. All the time."
"Where're all you guys from?" she asked after a few awkward seconds of silence. "By the way, we're passing the kitchen now."
"Remy be from New Orleans."
"Me and Ally're from Washington."
"DC or the state"
"State."
"Really? Me too. What part? I'm from Tacoma."
"Poor dear. We're Islanders; Mercer kids, to be exact."
"Well, it's really different weather down here. Other than that, it's pretty nice."
"What's the best advantage?" asked Ally.
"February. I still remember how depressing it got," shuddered the winged girl.
"Oh yeah, I remember..." said Mia with a responsive shiver. "Ironic, isn't it, how the shortest month took the longest to past…"
"What's wrong with Tacoma?" asked Lance.
"The paper mills," said Sarah with a sigh (1). "All of Tacoma smells like sewage. Pretty place, what with Mount Rainier and all, as long as you've never been there. (2) Hey, here's the rooms! We each get our own, or at least until there's more students here. That's the boy's wing, this is the girls'."
Soon bedrooms were allotted. Mia found hers to be very nice, spacious and sunny. A window was soon opened, letting in a nice breeze that smelled of wind and wide-open places and sunshine, and the walls, a pale cream, shone in the light. She soon had set up her stuff, nothing much but a couple of posters. (It would have looked very typical for a teenage room, except they were all for choirs.) She put her CD collection by the thoughtfully provided CD player, put sheet music on the shelves, clothes in drawers and was done.
She went next door, where Ally had done much the same thing. After that they went next door once more to Sarah's room, where they found her sitting on the bed. Her room was fairly plain, nothing on the walls but some pictures of Sarah hiking (generally with a look of horror on her face and staring at the edge of the cliff the trail climbed as if it would sneak up on her) and pictures of her looking much cheerier kayaking (3), wielding her paddle happily. (4)
"You kayak?" asked Ally, looking at the pictures.
"I used to. It's lots of fun. Dr. Gonnal has agreed to fly the jet out to Washington one day soon, though."
"How is Dr. Gonnal?" said Mia.
"He's pretty cool. A bit helter-skelter, but pretty nice."
"Do you know if he's a mutant?"
"He's a slight empath, nothing much. How's Professor Xavier? We'll be going there Saturdays, apparently."
"Oh, good!" said Mia happily. "You'll like it at the Institute; everybody's really nice. And it'll give us a chance to collaborate with Kitty and Jean on songs."
"Say what?" said Sarah.
"Oh, right. I'm rather obsessed with choir, along with Ally. It's more than my mutation; I've always loved to sing. Fortunately I've learned ways to sing normally. I assume you got a briefing packet about our team members?"
Sarah nodded an affirmative and, after a little while more of nice conversation, they all at dinner and then went bed. (5)
(1) Hey! Alliteration, and cool at that!
(2) For the record, this is true. Ditto Fort Worden.
(3) A kayak is a small boat, rather similar in size to a canoe. It is closed, and you sit in the bottom of it with your legs tucked into either side, parallel to the bottom. It sits very low in the water, and makes some people nervous for this reason; however, it is one of the most stable small boats you can have, despite a tendency towards alarming rocking. This particular one is an ocean-going kayak, much longer than a river kayak, and considerably more stable, though less maneuverable.
(4) Do not—EVER—call what you propel a kayak with an oar. It is a paddle. Pronouncing it wrong will get you whacked with aforementioned instrument, as I have had the unfortunate experience to learn first-hand.
(5) In two strait lines… Sorry! I've had lines from Madeline stuck in my head for forever and a day.
A/N: I'm posting the next chapter in the very near future. Hoped you liked this one! It's getting stranger...: evil grimace:.
