Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.
Summary: The simplest of events can change a person deeply. Other not-so-simple events can change a person irrevocably; even if they become someone they had never imagined. These are the events that lead to the creation of Poison and Fire, and their reign of Chaos.
Author note: The Tales of Chaos that are currently uploaded (Heartless, Nature and fire, and this one, Mother nature) are essentially unrelated. They all follow a similar story line: Will dumps/cheats on Layla, Layla turns evil with Warren, and they become the villainous duo Chaos. However, you do not have to read them all as a set in order to understand them, as they are all different stories.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
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Chapter Two
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According to Principal Powers, soon after Will and his friends had saved the school and world the year before, Sky High's admissions had risen considerably. It seemed that every fledgling super wanted to attend a school that had freshmenwho could defeat someone like Royal Pain. As such, a new bus route was being organised (with the help of Ron Wilson, bus driver and giant robot fighter) to accommodate the students who lived on the border of Maxville and Westville. This was the area where Layla's Great Aunt lived, and so it was decided that the new route would be implemented sooner rather than later, as a way of thanking Layla for the service she'd done to the school.
Riding along on the bumpy road two weeks later, Layla still wasn't sure this really constituted as a way to say thank you. She looked out of the window, trying to ignore the pain with every bump and pothole they went over.
Honestly, it felt like the bus driver was trying to hit them all!
Going over the top of the hill and towards the city, Layla looked out of her window. From this altitude, she could see all of Maxville, the city's skyline littered with skyscrapers, and even her old neighbourhood in the distance. She shut her eyes, intent on keeping them closed until the bus left the freeway.
Her things had been packed and moved to her Great Aunt's house, all of her belongings fitting into thirteen boxes that were still stacked in the corner of the room that she still couldn't call her own. Layla's old house was already up for sale, the newest addition to Stronghold Real Estate. While it had been nice of Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold to offer to sell her old house without any cost to her, there was a coil twisting at the pit of her stomach at the thought of someone else living in the house that she'd lived in since birth.
The bus stopped, doors opened, and when she opened her eyes, Layla smiled briefly at the familiar face that appeared on the steps. Warren ducked his head so he wouldn't hit the frame, scowling at anyone who looked at him for too long, and headed to the back where Layla was sitting.
"Hey, hippie," Warren muttered, taking the empty seat beside her.
She simply nodded, not feeling up to talking this morning. He didn't seem off put or offended by her silence, and simply took a paperback out of his bag. As she had been for the past two weeks, Layla was surprised that Warren was able to read anything with the bus bumping the way it was, but didn't say anything about it, and closed her eyes once more.
The very first time he'd stepped onto the bus, Warren had seen her sitting in the middle area of the bus, looking extremely uncomfortable at how close the boy next to her was sitting to her. Warren had clenched his fists, barely restraining from decking the overeager boy, and with a growl, told her to get up, indicating for her to keep moving down the aisle. He'd glared at the two boys at the back of the bus, who had decided that the one long seat was better as a lounge, and within seconds of his fists flaming, the seat was empty. Layla had been crying all night and didn't have the energy to tell him off like she usually might have. They had the seat to themselves, and the next morning when she'd stepped onto the bus, the back seat was completely empty, despite there being quite a few students already on board. Warren had sat next to her when he got on, pulled out a book and started to read after a small greeting. It was easy to slip into a routine, and after two short weeks, Layla always made sure she was sitting in the back and there was room for Warren beside her.
From the corner of his eye, Warren checked on Layla. She was still dressed in black, her red hair braided back simply and there wasn't a hint of green to be seen. After more than a year of seeing the girl in nothing but green, it was still a shock to the system to see her in a different colour. She wasn't talking this morning, which meant another day of awkward silence in the cafeteria. At least she didn't look like she was going to burst into tears if someone spilled their milk today. Returning his attention back to his book - god, where did this driver get his license?- Warren attempted to read a page before getting to Sky High.
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Will kept glancing at Layla every few minutes, his lunch becoming neglected and cold in the process. She didn't look up from her own food, trying to swallow everything even though it tasted like ash and dust in her mouth. When she took a long drink to wash away the awful taste, Layla noticed that Will was looking at her. She raised her eyebrow, waiting for him to ask whatever it was that seemed to be on his mind.
"Did you want to ... I mean, if you can ... or if your Great Aunt lets you..." he added, a slightly confused frown forming on his face.
"Geez, Stronghold, spit it out already," Warren said, rolling his eyes at him.
"Do you want to come over to study tonight?" Will finally asked.
"Oh, good idea. I seriously need help with that Hero History assignment. I swear, I'm reading the question and it looks like it's in another language," Magenta muttered, shaking her head.
Layla noted the slightly crestfallen look on Will's face, but she had no desire to correct Magenta's assumption that he'd been asking all of them, and nodded with a tiny smile, returning to her dust and ashes.
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Stepping into the Stronghold residence quietly, Layla nodded politely to the Commander and Jetstream who were on their way to respond to an emergency call from the Mayor. She headed straight into the lounge room and sat on the couch across from Will, still staying silent.
"Bye Will, be good!"
"No parties this time!" the Commander added over his shoulder before his wife took hold of him and flew into the air.
"Never going to live that down," Will muttered, stabbing at his homework forcefully, putting a hole through the entire book. "Oh, great," he sighed heavily, pulling the pen out carefully.
"Hey Will, hey Layla. You haven't already started, have you?" Magenta asked as she came into the lounge room with Zach beside her.
Will looked up quickly, and Layla saw the guilt and surprise in his expression as he looked at her. It was obvious that he hadn't realised that she was in the room.
Layla looked up at Magenta and shook her head in response to her question. Ethan came into the room, grinning as he sat on the lounge across from the two girls. Zach sat on the floor, his long legs stretched out beneath the coffee table. Will stood up quickly, muttering something about finding another notebook before leaving the room.
"What's up with him?" Magenta said, sitting beside Layla.
She simply shrugged and opened her bag to get out her homework.
"Hey, Warren. What're you doing here?" Zach asked, seeing him standing in the doorway.
"Stronghold invited me. Thought I'd see what the great Stronghold residence was like," Warren replied, his expression indifferent, but there was something in his stance that made Layla think he wasn't entirely comfortable.
She smiled at him briefly, patting the empty seat beside her.
"Oh, hey Warren, you made it. Want a soda?" Will asked, holding out a can to him.
"No, thanks."
Will shrugged slightly, moving past him to sit on the empty seat beside Layla, setting the drinks in front of them. He took her hand in his own, resting their joined hands on his leg.
For a moment, Layla simply stared at their joined hands. She didn't want to hold his hand. It reminded her too much of her mother, taking her hand to cross the street when Layla was beginning primary school. The time she'd been sick with the flu, her mother's hand in her own, while her free hand stroked her hair gently, feeling her forehead for a high temperature. Her mother's hands in her own, both of them singing and dancing to a cheesy song from the '80's.
She tried to pull her hand away, but Will's grip instinctively tightened, his attention on his homework again. He squeezed too hard, crushing bones and bruising her hand, and she did not want to hold his hand!
"Ow!" Will cried out, letting go of her and pulling his hand away abruptly.
Layla flexed her hand gently.
"What are those?" Will muttered, peering closely at his hand.
He pulled something out of his hand, holding it up to inspect. It looked remarkably similar to a thorn. Using tweezers, Will pulled four more out of his palm, five drops of blood forming from the tiny holes. There was complete silence as they all stared at the five thorns on the table.
"Did you ... Layla, did you do this?" Will asked, looking at her.
Her face was pale, but she didn't say anything or respond in any other way. Warren's phone rang, acting as a catalyst for noise and movement to return. At the sound, Layla jumped up from her seat, grabbing her bag and leaving the house, not looking at anyone.
Seeing that the call was from Mrs. Woo from the Paper Lantern, Warren answered in Cantonese, his eyes looking to the way Layla had gone.
"Got an extra shift. See you tomorrow," he said after hanging up.
The others barely had time to answer before he left. Stepping out of the house, Warren frowned when he saw that Layla was nowhere in sight.
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End of the second chapter.
I hope you liked it!
