Chapter Two: Never a Foe, Always a Friend
We'll go where there's lights out, the night's out, there's starlight anyway
Maybe we'll find out, I'll catch you, before you run away
I can feel, my heart out loud, like a radio, without a sound
Are you waiting for a new morning, are you waiting for my hands on your skin
If you waiting for what might have been, I'll stay awake
While you close your eyes and I'll just drive, I'll just drive
Maybe somewhere, there's nowhere better than right now
We are like windows, jet planes, high above the clouds
Like dreams of crush, like dreams go by, rain clouds fall, of you and I
Are you waiting for a new morning, are you waiting for my hands on your skin
If you waiting for what might have been, I'll stay awake
You close your eyes and I'll stay awake, with you, one more night
With you, one more dream
Are you waiting for a new morning, are you waiting for my hands on your skin
If you waiting for what might have been, I'll stay awake
Are you waiting for a new morning, are you waiting for my hands on your skin
If you waiting for what might have been, I'll stay awake
You close your eyes and I'll just drive
"Drive," by Rex Goudie
Danielle kicked the poor defenceless basketball and it soared across the gymnasium floor. "How could I have been so stupid…meet me in the gym tomorrow at four in the afternoon…yeah right," Danielle cursed herself for her stupidity and found another basketball to kick fiercely. She had come to speak with Darius, since it wasn't as if she could just go visit him, he was part of the Rebel Mutants, they'd been suspended from school for a week…, and it had now been three weeks that she'd seen him that night when she joined the X-Men…
Therefore, they set a meeting place...ok so it was more like he sent her a letter that told her to meet him here and she went, hoping to talk some sense into him and get him to come to the X-Men with her and Matthew. But it was now four thirty and he hadn't show any trace of coming. Danielle grumbled, kicked yet another basketball and was just about to give up when Darius walked into the gym and caught the basketball she had just kicked before it hit him in the face.
"Darius?" she asked as she approached him slowly.
"You shouldn't have come," he replied as he dropped the basketball and it rolled away from them.
"What! Why? You're the one that wrote the letter telling me to come! Now you're saying I shouldn't have…what's wrong with you?" she cried angrily.
"I didn't write that letter…," Darius said sadly, shaking his head. "I thought you knew that because it surely wasn't my writing…"
"What do you mean?" inquired Danielle curiously.
Just as Darius was about to answer, the lights in the gym flickered repeatedly and a cold wind blew through the gym.
"Danielle you have to leave now!" exclaimed Darius worriedly, trying to shoo her towards the door.
"Why? I came here to try and get you to do the right thing and I'm not leaving until you come with me to the X-Men!" she shouted defiantly, standing her ground and smiling confidently.
"Because it's a trap…that's why I said I didn't write that letter!" he whispered.
She gasped as the doors clicked and locked, the lights flickered again and the wind became even colder.
"Now Dar you know you aren't supposed to tell the person we're trying to trap that it's a trap…that just takes all the fun out of it…even if it is your favourite little X-Men girl…," said Jeremiah, laughing mischievously and stepping out of the shadows. Jeffrey Spencer stood just behind him, glaring angrily at Danielle.
"Oh Jeremiah it's like I said the first time when you had supposedly cornered me in the alley…you know you can't trap me," she smirked confidently but as she raised her arms and a black aura began to wrap itself around her, Jeremiah laughed and sent tons of little electric bolts in her direction.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed as the electric bolts hit her and she collapsed on the cold gym floor. Jeremiah walked over to her and shook his head at Darius, who looked horrified and wanted to help.
Danielle groaned and tried to push herself up but Jeremiah crouched down beside her and sprayed a watery mist in her face and she collapsed once more, asleep.
(break)
"What do you mean she's gone?" cried Zoey angrily.
"I mean she's gone…all we found in her room was this letter signed by that Darius boy," replied Cari-Anne, handing Zoey the letter. "Unfortunately, we think that the Rebel Mutants have kidnapped Danielle…finally gotten her after all…"
Zoey and the other X-Men kids had raced to Professor Delvar's office as soon as Professor Zachary had told them that Danielle was missing. So the three of them (the two boys were new recruits to the X-Men team) were with the three teachers, trying to find out what had happened.
"So what's it say Zo?" asked Matthew Bolton, his pale grey-blue eyes worried.
He had on a pair of baggy grey-blue cargo pants, a dark grey t-shirt with text on the front – "The opposite of love is not hate, it is envy", and a somewhat puffy, silver vest with dark orange on the inside. His hair was dark grey, straight and layered around his face. He had on black skater shoes, his whole right hand was always wrapped up in a white strap material, and a dark grey, thick-strapped watch was on his left wrist. Matthew, Danielle and Darius had spent their whole childhood together as the best and closest of friends until Darius moved away.
Everyone at the Delvar Academy knew that underneath his shirt and his skin on his back, he concealed large Dragon-like wings that could grow out at his command. Of course it might hurt, be he would be healed instantly because of his ability to regenerate. These were the powers that had made him part of the new X-Men team, the powers that had given him the codename Drake.
"Dear Danielle, how are you? Listen I know it's been three weeks since you found out that I'm back and that I haven't contacted you so…if you wanna talk…meet me in the gym at four today and we'll talk ok? See ya, Darius," Zoey read aloud to them all.
"That sure as hell doesn't sound like something Dar wrote, trust me one this one," said Matthew with certainty, shaking his head.
"So it was a trap then?" asked William Corvin. William wore baggy, light grey cargo pants, a dark green, loose zipper sleeveless with a hood attached and a beige t-shirt with a green border at the sleeves. His hair was short, messy, blond and spiky at the top towards the front. He had on black running shoes, a green & white checkered wristband on his right wrist and a black, thick-strapped watch on his left wrist. William had the mutant ability of super speed and that's why he was part of the new X-Men team, under the codename of Quickflash.
"Of course it was!" exclaimed Zoey, "And for some stupid reason she fell for it! I mean, Matthew said it himself, it doesn't even look like Darius' writing and my sister and Matthew should know that better than anyone else!"
"I think I know why she fell for it…we haven't seen our best friend in two years and the first time she does, she finds out he's on the wrong side. I think maybe she wanted to talk to him and try and convince him to come to the X-Men and that's probably why she neglected to notice that Darius didn't actually write this letter," explained Matthew carefully.
"I guess so…so when are we gonna go save her?" asked Zoey anxiously.
"Though they have taken her to the Rebel Mutant Boarding House…it is very dangerous for you to go there…it seems my brother Terrance has taken all the precautions necessary to stop anyone from rescuing her," answered Professor Delvar sadly, using his telepathy to find Danielle and scan the Boarding House. "We will have to wait and see what happens…"
(break)
"Keep a wary eye on her Pyroflare…that mist should keep her asleep and weakened for another hour or so. If she does wake, that containment box cancels out her power but do not sympathise with her and let her get to you, got it?" Terrance said slowly, giving him orders and Darius nodded.
Terrance left the room and Darius found himself alone in the room, watching the sleeping Danielle through the transparent glass that formed a sort of box around the bed she lay in. What does he want you for Danielle? What plan has he come up with now…?
After an hour of switching watches between the three Rebel Mutant boys, Darius found himself on watch once again as Danielle seemed to stir.
"Danielle?" he asked quietly, moving closer to the containment box.
"Where am I?" she questioned.
"You're…you're in a containment box in the Rebel Mutant Boarding House. Remember…the trap?"
"Oh…right," she moaned and she sat up and looked around.
"How're you feeling?" he asked a little worriedly.
"Fine…actually I feel like a complete idiot for falling for such a trap," she paused, looking up at Darius. "I guess I just wanted to talk to you so badly that it didn't register in my mind right away that you hadn't written that letter…"
"Why did you want to talk to me so badly?"
"Um I dunno…maybe because Matt and I haven't seen our best friend in two long years and the first time he shows up…he's our enemy!" she said crossly. "Why?"
"Well I…I can't tell you…not now at least," he said, grinning sheepishly.
"Figures," she muttered. "You know I hate to say this but…if you were a true friend to me and Matt…a true friend Darius…then you'd do what was right and you wouldn't be here…"
Darius was about to answer when the door flung open and Jeremiah came in, surprised yet delighted to see Danielle awake. He turned and noticed the look of sadness on Darius' face.
"Sorry just thought I'd check up on our little prisoner and see if she's awake…since she is…" he walked over to the containment box and pushed a small blue button on the control panel and more of that clear mist was filtered into the box. Danielle tried to cover her mouth and nose with no avail as she flopped onto the bed and fell asleep once more.
Jeremiah smiled and walked back to the door. "Hey Pyroflare, just remember what the boss said alright?" he said before walking out and closing the door.
Darius shook his head sadly and sat down in the chair beside the door, trying to rest. Unfortunately, sleep wouldn't come so he decided to get up and go get a soda down the hall.
Click! Darius opened the soda can and drank most of it. He noticed that the hallway was unbelievably silent as he started to walk back towards Danielle's room. He stopped as he heard whispered conversation in the room to his left and decided to eavesdrop.
"So everything is going as planned Cyclone?"
"Yes boss…according to Sparks and Pyroflare, she's been sleeping soundly the whole time…your plan is going great!"
"Good…they don't suspect anything?"
"The guys don't have a clue that the mist that's putting her to sleep is monitoring and affecting her powers and thoughts…they really don't realize you're poisoning her mind!"
Darius held his breath as Cyclone said those last words…poisoning her mind…affecting her powers and thoughts…what plan has he come up with this time and why does he need Danielle? He thought frantically. He sped up his pace and quietly rushed back to Danielle's room. He closed the door and looked at his sleeping friend. It's decided…you can't escape because that box cancels out your powers and you'll be asleep for another hour so…I'm gonna get you out of here Danielle…
He walked over to the glass case and placed his hand against it. Flames instantly covered his hand and heated up the glass where it was. The heat of the fire melted the glass and as Darius concentrated, the flames and heat expanded the hole until it was large enough for someone to fit through it.
He cradled Danielle in his arms and crept out into the hall. It was still as silent and empty as before so he quietly made his way to the garage. He only had a few minutes of drive ahead of him but it was better than walking. He chose Cyclone's black corvette. This'll teach him to mess with my friends… Darius thought to himself.
"Keys, keys, keys, keys, keys, where in the hell are his keys?" he whispered angrily as he searched through all the keys that had been shoved into a small drawer. "Damn it I can't find 'em anywhere! Oh well…might as well just make one. He grabbed a random key from the drawer and walked back to the car. As he sat down and tried to push in the key, he heated the metal and then cooled it so that it took the shape of the car key slot. He turned on the car and drove down the Boarding House driveway.
(break)
"WHAT!" screamed Terrance furiously. "SHE'S GONE!"
"Um…yes boss and we think…actually we're pretty sure that Darius helped her escape because the glass from her containment box was melted," replied Cyclone, shaking slightly.
"Besides, I saw the look of regret on his face when we captured her and when he was talking to her earlier," laughed Jeremiah.
"This is no joke Sparks so I do not know what you find funny!" cried Terrance and Jeremiah stopped laughing and regained control.
"Shall we go after him boss?" asked Cyclone.
"Of course we will!" he snapped.
"We boss?" inquired Cyclone curiously.
"WELL I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU IDIOTS GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME!" he yelled and stormed out of the room, Sparks and Cyclone on his heels.
(break)
Darius looked up at the tall metal gate and moaned. "Great, another problem…I'm not gonna blast through it 'cuz that'd be rude…" he glanced to his right and spotted a large tree whose branches loomed over the tall iron fence.
He smirked and lifted Danielle up like a piggyback. Even though she was sleeping, she held on tightly and Darius made sure she was secure as he started climbing. He reached the end of the large overhanging branch and began to climb down when a miniature bolt of lightning struck the branch and it cracked, hurling Darius and Danielle at the ground. Darius shifted himself midair so that he landed on his stomach and broke Danielle's fall.
He moaned and got up again, picking up Danielle and wiping the blood from the lip he'd just bitten as he hit the ground. He looked behind him and coming his way was the big dark green pick up truck that belonged to Jeremiah. Only this time, Cyclone was driving, Terrance was in the passenger's seat and Jeremiah stood up in the back of the pick up, grinning confidently.
Darius shook his head and ran as fast as he could towards the Delvar Academy. Suddenly roots shot out of the ground at his feet, took Danielle from his grasp and wrapped around him.
"Aw come on, can't anything go right just this once?" cried Darius angrily as the three X-Men kids ran towards him.
Darius groaned and concentrating, he created flames that burned at the roots around him and scorched them away. He landed and took a step towards Danielle only to be knocked down swiftly by William who sped by and kicked him, then sped back to the team who had reached Danielle know. He collapsed on the ground and groaned in pain, forcing himself to get up again.
He started towards Zoey and William, who were making sure Danielle was alright, to try and explain that he meant them no harm when Matthew landed in front of him, blocking his path.
"Darius," said Matthew slowly.
"Dude c'mon…you don't actually think I'm here to hurt any of you guys? I'm bringing Danielle back!" Darius cried defensively.
"And that's why the Rebel Mutants are hiding in the trees just over there?" Zoey spat.
Darius turned around and gasped as he saw that she was right. Sparks and Cyclone stepped out from amidst the trees and smirked. Darius glanced at the X-Men, who were focused on Danielle and sighed. He ran to the middle of the frontcourt as Jeremiah sent electric bolts their way and he created a thin wall of flame between the two groups that swallowed the incoming threat. Angered for different reasons, the two Rebel Mutant boys and the three X-Men kids raced towards each other and a battle began.
Zoey focused and made vines wrap around Cyclone, who tried to shred them with sheer force, terrible gusts of wind and small tornadoes. Jeremiah found only frustration as he tried repeatedly to electrocute William, who ran out of the way every time just before they hit him. Matthew did not need his powers to keep Darius from doing anything because he just stood there, watching everyone, thinking about the mess he'd caused. Then he took a deep breath and tried to stop the fighting with no success. In fact, he only made it worse because everyone was now shouting and arguing on top of using their powers to try to hurt each other.
"You're one of us Pyroflare why did you bring her back to them?" asked Cyclone sending a powerful tornado in his direction.
"Because she's my friend and I overheard you and Terrance talking…I know what you were doing to her with that mist and stuff!" cried Darius angrily, jumping to the ground and avoiding the tornado by and inch or two.
"If you're her friend then why'd you let them kidnap her and why in the world didn't you come to us when you come back? I don't exactly call that being the best of friends!" exclaimed Matthew, he tried to hit Darius but as soon as he made contact with Darius's shoulder, he burnt his hand. His hand incidentally healed a few moments afterwards.
"I couldn't come back! I did what I did to protect you guys!"
"Oh yeah like that line hasn't been used a million times before!"
"I'm serious Matt…why don't you trust me?"
"I don't trust you because you're with the Rebel Mutants and you led them right here! You probably just used Danielle as a decoy to get to all of us!
"Why the hell would I do that?"
"Because you're a traitor Darius!"
During this heated conversation, the two boys kept doing the same thing; Matthew would try to attack Darius, recoil in pain because he'd be burned only to heal up and try again.
"STOOOOOOOOOP!" screamed someone crossly from behind the group. The whole group was suddenly frozen in their tracks as a black aura wrapped around each of them.
Danielle walked up to them, sadness reflected in her eyes.
"Look at yourselves…you're supposed to be friends...instead you're fighting and hurting each other. I know Sparks and Cyclone are from the Rebel Mutants but they're still people and fellow mutants and they weren't doing anything wrong. As for the X-Men…you guys are acting like children and animals…," sighed Danielle sadly, shaking her head. She separated the Rebel Mutants from the X-Men kids, and left Darius in the middle, but she didn't let anyone but Darius go from her spell.
"Now we're gonna settle this like the semi-adults we are," she turned to Matthew and asked him, "Why did you guys attack Darius?"
"Because he's with the Rebel Mutants and a traitor! He was our best friend Danielle and he betrayed us by joining the Rebel Mutants and not even telling us he was back!" he answered angrily.
"As true as that may be Matt, he brought me back. I asked him to do the right thing and he did…and don't tell me it might've been a trap because in case you hadn't noticed, the Rebel Mutants were after Darius for running away and were calling him a traitor!" she spat crossly. "How blind were you three to not see that?"
Zoey, Matthew and William exchanged glances and shook their head, ashamed of having jumped to such a conclusion. Jeremiah and Jeffrey kept quiet as Terrance crept up behind Danielle. The X-Men kids were staring at the ground in embarrassment and Darius was looking away. He turned and noticed Terrance just as he was about grab Danielle and reacted swiftly.
A ball of flame shot from his hand and hit Terrance square in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. Danielle stifled a scream as the flame ball shot past her head and she whirled around to see Terrance lying on the ground. She lost her concentration and everyone else was let go from her spell. Jeremiah and Jeffrey rushed to Terrance's side and glared angrily at the people around them.
Cyclone raised the winds and lifted the three of them into the air.
"You'll pay for this one day Hunter!" spat Jeremiah before the ball of wind sped off, pulling the pickup truck and corvette in the mix as it went by.
Zoey, William and Matthew stared at Darius incredulously as he shook his head and started walking away. The three of them were in such shock that they just let him go and did nothing to stop him. Danielle muttered to herself, annoyed at her friend's behaviours and ran up behind Darius.
"Where are you going?" she said smiling.
"I got from the fight and the lovely welcoming committee that no one wants me here…"
"Hello, aren't you forgetting me? I don't want you to go…what do you think I've been trying to do for the past three weeks?"
He turned to face her and smiled. "I know Danielle but…your friend, your sister and even my other best friend don't want me to be here…"
"Well tough because they'll just have to deal with it!" she cried defiantly, smiling widely. She grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the others.
"I think that he's proven that he doesn't want anything to do with Terrance and the Rebel Mutants anymore even though he didn't need to. Now, you two are going to apologize for not trusting him," she stated assertively to her sister and William.
"We're sorry Darius," said Zoey and William in unison.
"Now," she said with a hint of annoyance that made Darius hold back a laugh, she turned to face Matthew. "You…you are going to apologize for being one of the worst friends ever and for being such a jerk!"
"I…Darius I'm really sorry I…I really don't know what came over me…just know that even though I may do some pretty stupid things, we're always friends," said Matthew smiling and holding out his hand to Darius. Darius smirked and took it and the two boys preformed a secret handshake that they and Danielle had created as kids.
"With that said I think it's time you asked Darius to join the X-Men team," said Professor Delvar as he stepped around the side of the Academy building, Cari-Anne and Zachary close behind him.
Danielle happily turned to Darius but before she could say anything, he smiled and said, "I'd be honoured."
Author's Notes
This is actually one of my favourite chapters only because of the bond established and explored between Darius and Danielle…I kind of used the bond I have with one of my childhood friends for it. Actually…almost all the characters' bonds and personalities are either designed after a character in X-Men Evolution or in my life. Anyway that's all for now, comments welcome!
