In this chapter Todd and Serena go through some… stuff. Will their teammates be able to survive it?
Chapter Eighteen: Nightmares and Delirium
Serena was outside the mansion. The night was cool and the sky was lit with stars. The moon illuminated everything. She saw a dark figure. It was Todd. He looked gloomy and miserable.
"Todd?" She asked in disbelief. In response he turned and hopped away. She ran after him. "Todd wait!"
But he didn't listen. He didn't even glance back. He hopped over the fence and down the street. She ran up to the gate and watched him go. She grabbed hold of the bars and slid to the ground. Suddenly something grabbed her ankle and started pulling her across the grass. She looked behind her to see a clawed hand holding her ankle pulling her towards a dark black hole. She tried to get free but the thing's grip was too strong. As she was being sucked into the swirling vortex she grabbed a hold of the edge. But it was no use. She slid into the dark vortex, falling. Falling forever.
She hit the floor of her bedroom hard. She got to her knees breathing hard. She felt her face. Her hands were ice cold but her face was hot.
She buried her face in her hands. She was sick of it. Every night she woke up either screaming or in a cold sweat. If it hadn't been for the repressor the Professor had given her she probably would've already have destroyed the mansion in her sleep. She was a danger to all who were in the mansion. Why couldn't she just leave? Where would she go? She couldn't go back home not while her mother couldn't even stand the thought of Serena being a mutant let alone associating with them.
She got up and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She didn't even bother to turn on the light. She preferred quiet darkness. It reflected what she was feeling everyday. Besides, she could see fine with the moonlight flooding in through the window. She fixed herself some hot cocoa and sat down at the table. She stirred her hot cocoa around with a spoon absent mindedly.
She sighed heavily. "What I wouldn't give just to laugh again." Suddenly she felt her skin tingle slightly. Someone was there. She sat up straight trying to peer into the darkest shadows.
"Who are you? Show yourself." There was no sound. "I know you're there. If you don't show yourself right now you're going to regret it in the morning." After a few seconds dark figure stepped out of the shadows into the dim moonlight revealing his face. It was Kurt.
"Why won't you leave me alone!?" Serena said exasperatedly. "What? Are you stalking me or something?" He shook his head. "Then what? What do you want?"
"I just wanted to know if you were feeling okay." He said quietly.
"Am I feeling okay? Am I feeling okay? Well let's see. I've lost my boyfriend, my family, and thanks to you I'm close to losing my sanity! I'm barely holding onto the edge which is crumbling away beneath my fingers and I wake up screaming every night! Even during the day my nightmares still haunt me!" Serena continued going on in a tone not so loud to wake everyone up."Yeah, I'm feeling okay, I'm feeling great! In fact I couldn't think of any other time in my entire life that I've felt as fine as right now! I just love living in a world of darkness and torture and thinking about my worst memories! Gaud, are you that stupid!?"
"You don't have to yell." He said looking a little angry.
"Apparently I do to get anything through that thick skull of yours! You never listen!"
"I listen." Kurt protested.
"Then listen to this. Leave me alone." She then stood up and with a wave of her hand her hot cocoa flew out of her cup and splashed him in the face.
"Ah!" He grabbed his face. She merely turned and left without another word. "I still love you." He whispered.
---------------------------------------
It was the middle of the night and Todd was wandering the streets. He didn't know why he was there or how he got there. All he knew was he was alone. Or was he? He saw a figure with long dark hair staring at him from across the street.
"Is that you?" He called out. There was no answer. They walked slowly towards each other, until they were face to face. He stared into her eyes, and she stared into his.
"Serena?" He asked quietly.
She said nothing. Her expression was sad and she looked like she was about to cry. Todd felt miserable to see her this way. She was so beautiful, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her eyes glistened in the moonlight. He wanted to say something but he had lost his voice. She reached out a hand to his face. He tensed slightly wondering what she was going to do. She placed her hand on his cheek, and smiled sadly. Todd relaxed. He placed his hand on hers and squeezed it gently. Tears rolled down her face. He looked down at the paved street.
"Listen, Serena." He said quietly. "I… I…" He was having trouble getting the words out. "I just wanted to tell you that…"
He looked up. She was gone. He looked around frantically, but she was nowhere in sight. He sensed something behind him. He turned around. Then he opened his mouth and let out a scream.
He sat up straight in his bed breathing hard. He grabbed his face. "Aw man, not again!" he moaned. "Oh saints of mercy! I don't even think Joseph had it this bad!"
He sighed heavily. "I need sleep… but I can never get any." He heard several footsteps. "Oh, here we go." Todd thought. His bedroom door burst open and Pietro, Lance, Tabitha, and Fred came in.
"Toad! Are you okay?"
"Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
"Was it another nightmare?" They were all talking at once.
Todd groaned with his face in his hands. Every night for the past couple weeks he had been waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares. But for the past week he had been having nightmares worse than before and would wake up screaming, thus waking up the rest of the Brotherhood and having them storm in his bedroom to see if he was okay.
"I'm fine guys." He said pulling his fingers though his hair. "Really."
"Todd, this has been going on for a week now." Lance said sternly.
"Yeah, you never used to have nightmares like this before." Fred said.
"Guys I'm fine!" Todd said exasperatedly.
"Toad we just want to help." Pietro told him.
"There's nothing you can do." Todd said in a definite tone. "Zip, zero, zilch, nadda, nothing. So just forget about it."
"Toad, I know you still haven't forgiven us about… well…" Pietro averted his eyes.
"But we want to help." Lance finished.
"Please let us help you." Tabitha asked him.
"I don't need or want your help!" Todd shouted.
"You've never been like this before." Fred said. "You used to always come to us for help."
"Things change." Todd said flatly.
Lance sighed. "Well, if you ever need anything, just let us know."
"Well there is one thing." Todd said.
Pietro's ears perked up. "What?"
"Leave!" Todd pointed to the door. Looking rather dejected, they left.
Todd flopped back onto his bed. "Ugh. What is wrong with me?"
Every night it was the same dream. He would see Serena, she would disappear, he would look behind him, and see Serena standing there, so thin and bony it was sick looking, skin so pale it would make an albino person look like they have a tan, and her eyes sunken and hollow. Todd would turn around and see her like this, standing there alive, but dead.
------------------------------
The next day Serena was outside training with the rest of the students near the pool. Kurt kept looking at Serena who was avoiding his gaze.
"Alright, today this exercise will be a little different." Jean called out. "All you have to do is do something artistic with your powers. This will show exactly how much control you have. You will be judged on style, originality, and grace."
Scott turned to Bobby. "Iceman, you're up first."
With a full look of confidence, Bobby formed an ice statue of something with the head of a dragon with two long horns curved over its head, wings, sharp claws, and the lower body of a snake.
"That's… very interesting." Scott said. "Next."
Serena stepped up. "I'm not so sure about this."
"You'll do fine." Rogue told her.
Serena took a deep breath. She focused on the water in the pool having no idea what she was going to do. But to her surprise and everybody else's a blob of water slid out of the pool and started twisting itself into a shape. When it was done Serena gasped. It was in the shape of a mermaid looking creature with blades on the back of its tail, things on its back that looked like a sea dragon wings, fins on its arms, and a dorsal spine hanging from its head that most angler fish had.
Everyone stared at it in awe as it moved around showing off its features. Everybody started cheering and whistling at this magnificent display. Serena didn't know what to do. She just stood there with a shocked expression on her face. But, those weren't her powers. She could never do something like this before. She could barely twist water into simple shapes.
Suddenly the sky darkened, as if a veil of shadows had slowly pulled itself over the area blocking out the sunlight. The cheers and yells of the other kids faded into nothingness. All around was completely dark and completely silent. It was like nighttime without the moon or the stars. Serena looked around scared and confused. What was going on?
"Hello?" hello… hello… Serena's voice echoed through the endless darkness. "Where am I?" am I… am I…
"You're in my world." A voice answered. Serena whipped around to see a pair of silver eyes glowing through the pitch black. She tried to make out his face, but it was swallowed in blackness.
"Wh…Who are you?" She stammered.
"I am the shadow of the night." He whispered.
"This isn't real." Serena said. "None of this is real. This is just another nightmare."
He shook his head smiling. "No. This is much worse than any nightmare. Nightmares can't hurt you. But they can." He made a slight wave with his hand and what Serena saw made her gasp.
Monsters were rising out of puddles of black on the ground. They were completely black aside from their glowing yellow eyes that illuminated everything around them. They had no mouth, nose, or any type of features to distinguish one from the other. Their bodies were lean and slumped over. Long arms dangled with sharp claws at the ends. They moved their heads from side to side as if sensing something in the air.
Serena shook her head. "This isn't real. This isn't real!"
"Allow me to show you just how real they are." He gave a simple snap of his fingers. One of the creatures leapt out at her. Pain shot up her arm as the creature swung its claws leaving three deeps cuts.
"Are you still in doubt?" he asked smiling.
She glared at him. "So, I really didn't make that water creature. It was you."
He shook his head slightly. "Not entirely. I merely fused my powers together with yours."
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Ah, where to begin, I wouldn't know."
"Just tell me!" Serena said impatiently.
He smiled wickedly. "Isn't it obvious? I want you."
"Me?" Serena said in surprise. "What's so special about me?"
"You hold the key to unlocking the greatest weapon this planet has ever seen. With this weapon any in control of it would be invincible!"
"You are full of it!"
"Pity though." He said. "I would've thought you'd have broken some time ago. But you have lasted longer than I would have ever expected."
"I'm sorry." She said in a mock voice.
"Oh, don't be. It simply means that you are stronger than I anticipated. This makes your power even more valuable to me."
He turned to leave. "When the time is right, we'll meet again."
"Not if I can help it." Serena said and started walking towards him.
He snapped his fingers and the monsters swarm all over her. She tried to pull away but there were too many of them. "No!" she screamed.
"We will meet again, that I assure you. But for the time being, perhaps your memories of this are best forgotten." He disappeared. The monsters all stared at her with their glowing eyes.
Serena grabbed her head whimpering. Scott noticed this. "Uh, Aqua?" She looked up at him. She stepped away from him in fear. He took a step towards her. "Are you alright?" She backed away from him.
"Stay away from me."
He moved towards her. "Serena, it's me Scott."
"Get away!" She blasted him with water.
Jean walked over to her. "Serena calm down!"
"Leave me alone!" She blasted her. "I won't let you monsters drag me down again!" She started blasting at all the other students sending them a few feet away.
"She's gone nuts!" Ray yelled.
Serena blasted Bobby before he even had a chance to anything. Rogue tried to sneak up from behind. Serena back flipped over Rogue and kicked her from behind knocking her into Amara. Rogue touched her with her ungloved hand and she passed out. Jesse morphed and did a flying kick at Serena. She grabbed his foot with both hands and used his momentum to swing him into Ray knocking them both down. Kurt teleported behind her and grabbed her pinning her arms to her sides.
"Serena stop!" Serena threw back her head and it collided with Kurt's. He released her instantly. "Ow." He groaned as he grabbed his head. She ducked to the ground and did a sweeping kick knocking him of his feet.
Scott shot a blast at her and knocked her into the pool. Seconds passed and she did not surface. A few people edged cautiously toward the pool. Suddenly the water started swirling.
"That can't be good." Kurt gulped.
The water in the pool swirled until it was a whirlpool. Serena's limp body rose from the middle of the vortex. Her hair was flying wildly. "Ugh…" Light shined brightly from her amulet, and then faded. She slowly drifted back onto the ground. She just stood there with her eyes closed.
Rogue stepped closer to see if she was okay. "Serena?"
Her eyes opened and she smiled wickedly. "No."
She raised her hands in the air and a huge tidal wave rose out of the pool. Rogue stepped back in surprise and fell to the ground. The tidal wave spilt and crashed down wiping out everyone but Rogue whom the water merely flooded around her. Serena walked towards her smiling broadly. Rogue stared up at her in horror.
"Say good-bye." She said in a malevolent whisper.
Suddenly there was a flash of red light and Serena was hit hard with such force it threw her into a tree. She hit the trunk with a dull thud and crumpled to the ground. Everybody looked at her and then at Scott. "I didn't mean to. I was just trying to stop her." Rogue ran to Serena and knelt beside her. Serena groaned and shifted a little.
"Serena?" Rogue asked a little apprehensively.
Serena lifted her head a little looking up at her. "I told you you couldn't help me." Then without another word, she went limp. Rogue couldn't believe what just happened. One second Serena was fine, and the next…
"What happened here?" Somebody growled. She turned around to see Logan standing right behind her both angry and slightly worried.
Rogue didn't know what to tell him. "I… I don't really know."
He turned to Scott and Jean. "I leave you two alone to deal with this class for two minutes and already hell broke lose."
"We don't know what happened." Jean told him.
"In the middle of training she just," Scott gave a slight shrug, "freaked."
"I see. Well, continue the lesson." He bent down and picked Serena's body up. "I'll take her to the Professor and see if he can't do anything."
As he carried Serena away Rogue noticed three parallel scratch marks across her arm that weren't there before.
------------------------------------
Todd was outside lying on the front lawn daydreaming. He heard someone call his name. He sat up and looked over to see…
"Serena?" He said in surprise. It was Serena waving excitedly at him, smiling. Just to make sure Todd pinched himself. It hurt.
"I'm not dreaming." He ran over to Serena desperate to talk to her. He stopped a few feet away. "Serena?" She merely smiled at him.
As he was about to say something, there was a loud gunshot and Serena's smile faded in a blink of an eye. Todd's eyes widened in horror as she fell forward. He caught her and knelt. He looked to see a wound in her right shoulder bleeding freely. He looked up to see Pietro holding a gun with smoke drifting out of it and a blank, empty expression on his face. He couldn't believe Pietro would do such a horrible thing. He looked back at Serena who was taking slow shuddering breaths.
"Serena?" His voice quivered. "Are you…"
A tear rolled down her cheek "Todd…" she whispered. Then she went limp, her eyes frozen in tearful sorrow.
He couldn't believe what happen. He closed Serena's eyes and laid her down on the ground. He had remembered. He didn't remember everything, but he remembered the feeling he used to get when he touched her, held her. He remembered her melodious voice and her beautiful radiant eyes. But what good was it remembering all that now? She was gone. His hands were shaking and he couldn't breathe.
"Hey Toad. What are you doing?"
He turned around to see Pietro standing there behind him. Rage ignited inside of Todd and he lost himself. He gave a scream of fury and leapt onto of Pietro. Pietro, who was too surprised to react, didn't have enough time to dodge him.
"Toad!" Pietro yelled trying to shield himself. "What are you doing!?"
Todd was busy trying to punch every bit of Pietro he could reach. "YOU KILLED HER! I'LL KILL YOU!"
Inside Tabitha was reading a Sixteen Magazine, Lance was staring up at the ceiling, and Fred was watching TV. Tabitha was interrupted from her reading by a strange sound.
"Guys, what was that?"
"Huh?" Lance said.
"That noise." Tabitha said.
"What noise?" Fred said confused.
"I think you're hearing things." Lance told her.
"No listen." They did and heard it too. The sounds of yells and screams were heard.
Tabitha suddenly looked like she was going to be sick. "Where's Pietro?"
They all ran to the door and looked outside. Lance paled as he saw Todd attacking Pietro viciously and Pietro yelling in pain trying desperately to get away from him.
"Toad! Stop!" Lance yelled.
"Todd what are you doing!?" Tabitha screamed.
"Are you nuts!?" Fred shouted. The three of them ran to Pietro's aid. Lance tried to pull Toad off but he ended up getting one of Todd's lefts right in the face.
Lance rubbed his face gingerly. "Blob, restrain him will ya!?"
Fred Grabbed Todd and pulled him off of Pietro who was curled up on the ground moaning. Todd was struggling so hard even Fred was having trouble holding him.
"Let me go! Let me go!" He said thrashing.
"Sorry little buddy, no can do." Fred told him.
"He killed her! He killed her!" Todd shouted.
"What are you talking about?" Tabitha asked.
Todd didn't seem to have heard him. "I'm gonna kill him! I'm gonna kill him!"
"Toad calm down!" Lance ordered.
"RRRAGH!" Todd roared like an animal.
"Tabitha, help me." Lance indicated Pietro. She nodded and the two of them picked him up and carried him inside followed by Blob and a struggling Todd. They laid Pietro down on the couch. He had several marks on his body that were not going to go away very soon.
"Pietro what happened?" Lance asked.
Pietro shook his head looking a little shocked. "I don't know. I saw Toad outside, he was acting kind of weird so I went out there to see what was going on and he jumped me."
"You lying bastard!" Todd shrieked. "Murderer!"
Lance looked from Todd to Pietro. "Pietro what is he talking about?"
Pietro shrugged. "How should I know?"
Todd had been fighting and struggling for so long his energy was starting to go down. He had stopped struggling so much and his yells were fading into mutters. "He killed her. I'll kill him."
"Who Todd?" Lance asked sternly. "Who did he kill?"
"He killed her. He killed Serena…" Tired and worn-out, Todd let himself slip away into unconsciousness. Fred set Todd down on the floor after he was sure the little guy was asleep. Everybody was wide-eyed, especially Pietro.
"Pietro…" Lance said.
Pietro held up his hands. "I swear I didn't."
"I know." Lance told him. "Not even you would go that far.
"Lance, look at this." Tabitha pointed to Todd.
He looked at the unconscious teen and saw that there was blood stained all over the front of his shirt.
Some freaky stuff, huh? Was it real? Or just an illusion? Stay tuned!