Chapter Three: Powerless

Na-Na: I…Don't…Own…Sky High. (Cries) I wish. Than Warren would be mine. So do you guys have an idea on the pairings? Well, I don't. I'm torn, I don't know if I want Tenni to end up with Warren, Will, Zach, or Lash. Yes, I was kind of serious about all of them. I really kind of like Lash whenever I look past the playground bully act. Zach's really funny when he tries to be a poser. Both Lash and Zach are kind of hot. And I kind of like Will too, since he's cute in his own way. Would you guys find it creepy if Will fell for his cousin/sister? I guess I'll figure it out on my own.

(Also peoples, when Tenni talks about her real parents, they're "Mama" and "Papa." When she's talking to Josie and Steve, she calls them Mom and Dad.)

I sat alone in the hall, my back against one of the gym's double doors. My head was swimming with questions and sad thoughts again. The talk about Warren Peace had made me think about my biological parents again. I hated it. As much as I tried to cover it up, I always ended up remembering them. I had hated them.

Closing my eyes, my mind played their faces again and again. There was never any sound to my memories of them because I never remembered what they had said to me, or even what their voices were like. The memories were always from my early childhood. When they didn't hate each other. A time when I was as innocent as any other child was. That was a time when we were a happy family, not distant. Had they really hated each other enough to cast away their daughter to settle their pride issues? For a while, I hadn't understood why they fought with each other. The maids who had to raise me would smile sadly at me when I asked them why Mama and Papa barely ever came home. I figured it all out on my tenth birthday.

I was never the same.

Sitting up straighter against the door, I pulled my knees to my chest. The air seemed to reflect my sadness. Any moisture in the air held began to get cold and heavy like the feelings that were running through my heart at the minute. My breath became visible due to the decrease in temperature.

Why did I have to care so much?

Why couldn't I just hate my biological parents and get on with my life?

Why did I have to keep the pain as a reminder?

I wanted to stop hurting and move on and live a normal life with the Strongholds. Well as normal as a power filled household would get. Mom looked so much like Mama though. They must've been twins. But they were so different. Mom had become a hero, married a hero, and had and child destined to be a heroand settled into a steady life of Real Estate and kicking the bad guy's butts. My Mama, on the other hand, had become a villain, married a hero unknowingly, had a kid and then killed her husband before disappearing. How does that kind of thing happen? Is it parenting or something? Some kind of cosmic rule that there has to be a good twin and an evil twin? Why couldn't I have been born to Mom instead?

Looking up, I scanned the halls. No one around. I could've sworn that someone had been watching me.

Ringgggg!

The bell went off loudly. Covering my ears, I grimaced at the fact that I had been sitting too close to one of the loud speakers. Standing up, I moved away from the door as some of the other freshmen in the class that were returning to the gym. Layla, Will, Zach, Magenta, and Ethan approached me from my left. Layla and Zach gave me friendly hello's while the others either gave me a nod or a wave. I was kind of worried when Will hadn't greeted me, but I waited until we were in the gym to ask him.

"You okay Will?" I asked as I stood next to him in front of the stage. He sighed.

"Not really," Will answered, "I just made a fool of myself in front of Gwen, then I literally bumped into that Warren guy, ran into Lash and Speed in the bathroom, and now I'm gonna face power placement without any powers." I looked sadly at Will. Taking his hand I smiled at him and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. I couldn't just tell him everything would be okay, because I knew that would be a lie. All I could do was be there for him.

Once five minutes had passed, all of the freshmen were in the gym; we all stood quietly awaiting Boomer to come. Finally, after another three minutes, he made his appearance via rising platform. I rolled my eyes at the need of dramatics for only a gym teacher. Well, now was moment of truth. Was Will going first or was I?

"Stronghold, get up here!" Boomer barked. I looked at Will and he looked at me.

"Which one?" We asked at the same time, earning a couple of chuckles from the other people in our class. Boomer looked a bit confused.

"Uh…you," he said pointing at me. Will sighed in relief.

"Ladies first, I guess," he whispered cheekily, though he still looked a little shaken. I reluctantly released Will's hand and walked up there and stood on the stage in front of him waiting for an order.

"What's your power?" He asked me, crossing his arms across his arms across his chest, clipboard in his left hand.

"Aquakinesis." I said simply, "I can manipulate water however I want." I had decided no one really had to know about the illusions I could create. He nodded and pulled out a remote.

"Car." He said pushing the button that released the car.

I had expected him to do that. Closing my eyes, I let my left arm rise up and water issued forth from my palm. It froze forming an icy shield above my head stopping the car's descent towards me. I felt like I could show off a bit more, so I shot my right hand up and let a torrent of water shoot up and blast the car away while smashing the ice to pieces. Smiling, I opened my eyes again and looked at the class. Will and Layla were smiling back while everyone else, including Boomer, were gaping.

"Good enough for you Coach?" I asked, unable to hide the smugness I felt right now. Stick it to the man.

"Impressive. Hero, now get off the stage." He then turned to Will. "You're up now." As I walked down the stairs, I whispered a, "Good Luck" to him before standing next to Layla and Zach.

"Dude, Ten, that was awesome!" Zach exclaimed, slapping me on the back, "Never knew you could do that!"

"You never asked. And don't call me Ten," I said back to him, and both of us started laughing.

"Shhhh!" Layla said to us. "Will's turn."

Will was currently shuffling nervously up on the stage. I suddenly lost my cheer as I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. This wasn't going to be good. Now that I thought about it, I shouldn't have impressed the coach so much. Now Boomer probably expected more out of Will. Being a Stronghold was already bad enough. Clasping my hands together, I prayed Boomer wouldn't go so hard on Will because he didn't have powers. Will finally mustered up the courage and approached Boomer whispering something to him. Boomer drew back angrily.

"What do you mean you don't know what your power is?" Boomer asked annoyed. I cringed. He wasn't taking this well.

"Uh…um, well…" Will mumbled out. A wide smile suddenly spread on the coach's face. I started to dread where this was going.

"Oh. I get it. You're messing with the Coach." Boomer said chuckling, "Just like your old man. Car." And with that, a car came falling down at Will. He barely got out of the way in time, flattening himself as close to the floor of the stage a possible. Oh God, Will just barely evaded that one. This was going worse than I had imagined.

"Are you insane!" Will said poking his head out from underneath the car. Boomer hit the button again and the car was lifted back up off him. "I don't have super strength!"

"Oh, I get it. You're a flyer. Just like your Mom. Why didn't you say so?" Boomer hit another button. Suddenly, the floor underneath Will sprung up and flung him into the air.

"Ahhhhhhh! Oofff"

"Will!" I screamed as I watched him crash into the cement pillar and fell to the floor. I ran over to him and knelt beside him, angry, fearful tears springing forth. Will had been knocked senseless from that.

"Kid, come on. Quit messing with me. I haven't got all day. What's your power?" Boomer asked testily. I glared at him, while cradling the nearly unconscious Will's head in my lap.

"He told you he didn't have any," I snarled at Boomer causing him to back away a bit nervously.

"Will Stronghold…" Boomer said nodding at us

"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDEKICK!"

The yell of sidekick was louder than anything the coach had yelled yet. It knocked me back a bit because of its intensity. Glass shattered all around the gym freaking out a couple of the other students. Even after he had finished, it seemed to still echo through the gym. No doubt the whole school had heard it. When Boomer saw that Will wasn't getting up, he sighed in an irritated fashion.

"Glow-boy," he said addressing Zach, "Help Stronghold get her brother to the infirmary." Zach immediately walked over and helped me get Will to his feet. Slowly, we made our way for the doors out of the gym. Once we were out of there, I let the tears fall.

"How could he do that to Will?" I whimpered weakly, holding my brother tightly. Zach looked at me and the tears that were slipping down my face.

"Yo Ten, don't cry," he told me. I was too upset to tell him not to call me Ten, "Coach Boomer will get what's coming to him. And Will will be fine." He smiled as he said that. I couldn't help but smile too. Zach was such a clown all of the time. Even since 8th grade when he was in class with me, Will and Layla. It was nice when he was serious. Well, more serious than usual.

Suddenly, I felt like Iwas being watched again. I used my free hand to wipe away the lingering tears in my eyes before whipping my head around to see if there was anyone following us down the halls. There! Just out of the corner of my eye, I saw glimpsed a small blur of black and…red…zip back around the corner. Missed him! Well, whoever it was that had been spying on me anyway. I huffed in frustration before catching the questioning look Zach was giving me.

"Hee hee…" I giggled a little embarrassed, "I uh, thought someone was following us."

"Dude, now you're just being paranoid." Zach said jokingly.

"I guess," I said laughing, "Now come on, we're almost there. Poor Will here won't last much longer if we don't pick up the pace." Zach a laughed along with me and we made our way to the nurses office.

"So will Will be okay?" I asked as Nurse Spex.

"I believe so." She answered.

"Told you so! Yeeah!" Zach said from over near the door, I rolled my eyes at his stupid antics.

"Zach, you should get back to class. I'm gonna stay with Will until he wakes up," I said. Zach nodded and left, but not without doing one last "Yeeah!"

"So you're the daughter of Illusor and Darkwater?" My head whipped around to look at Nurse Spex. She had her arms crossed infront of her chest while giving me a knowing smile.

"What about it?" I asked, my eyes narrowing. She just laughed.

"No need to be defensive dear. If you're wondering how I know, it's because I'm the school nurse. Whenever a student comes to Sky High, both the Principle and I are each given a file on everything about the student. Everything. And don't worry, I don't bare any ill will towards you because of your parents. You are not the first student who has walked the halls of Sky High with parents who are villains," Nurse Spex said, taking a step towards me.

For some reason, the first thing that came to mind was that guy. Warren Peace. I shook the thought off. He wasn't important at the moment. Will was.

"So, will Will get his powers?" I asked Nurse Spex.

"I don't know." Nurse Spex answered trying to be cheerful, "It's all a matter of time. He could possibly be a late bloomer. But I'm afraid that Will may possibly never get his powers." I sighed. Will was probably going to be devastated by the news that not only was he a sidekick, but that he could possibly be powerless.

"You should take a nap," she told me, "He won't be awake for a while. Not until school is already out anyway. I'll have Ron wait so he can take you and your brother home." I nodded.

"Are you going to tell him when he wakes up?" I asked her.

"Yes."

"Try to break it to him softly," I told her sadly. Before I let my eyelids completely shut, I stopped using my illusion, so my hair returned to blonde and the freckles and glasses faded away. Finally, I drifted into a troubled sleep.

It was dark.

Consuming.

Suffocating.

Intense.

I was… scared… For once. It was a rational fear I believed. Not like I was scared of the dark often. More rational than the things I was usually scared of anyway. But believe me, as much as I prided myself on being less afraid of the dark than some of the other things I was afraid of in this… dream…? … I didn't enjoy the fact that I was afraid in general. If this was a dream, than I doubt I would suffer any physical damage. Mental damage, maybe, but certainly not physical.

The darkness began to fade and I started to feel relieved. A bit too soon. I realized I was standing right in front of a mirror. Immediately, I knew something was wrong with the whole picture. Staring back at me in the mirror was me, except me when I was ten and more than half a foot shorter by the looks of it. That earned a scowl. I was already short enough as a teenager standing at barely five feet tall, but now I was super pipsqueak size. Some dream this was turning out to be. More like a nightmare.

I was more right than I had thought at the moment apparently.

My surroundings began to materialize around the mirror. Finally, I figured out that this was my old room, from the mansion I used to live in before my parents died. Boy, whatever divine presence that had designed this dream for me was trying to push buttons I didn't want pushed. Leaving the stupid mirror, I stalked off and went for the door, seeing as how that would be less boring compared to just looking at how short I was being reflected in it. The knob turned with several chinking noises and the door opened. I peered out quickly before taking off down the corridor. SO many DOORS! So much selection, but what door to pick? What would be behind Lucky door Number One?

As I opened it, I immediately had to draw my head back so as to avoid my face getting hit by a flying fireball. Once I felt it was safe enough, I peered back into the room. What I saw was startling. It was a battle. That much I was certain of. But it was entirely one-sided I noticed after quick observation. I couldn't see their faces, but one of them was dressed in black, the other in blue. The one in blue was trying to hide from the fireballs being hurled being hurled mercilessly at him by the one in black. I decided it would be a good idea to look in a different door when another stray fireball flew in my direction. I hopped over to the door across the hall and flung it open.

Woah, way too bright! It was like every inch of what made up the room was…white. Everything. It all glowed from the pure whiteness that made up the room. It hurt my eyes. While closing the door however, I heard a voice utter something softly.

"Be real, so that when you smile at me, I'll see you and only you."

That confused me. I chose to ignore the fact that the voice had been a very pleasant voice. Definitely male, and dare I say it? Beautiful. Sort of bass and calming. Huh? Wasn't I supposed to be ignoring the fact I liked the voice? Argh! It really was nice…Really, really soothing and…WAIT! I was practically unable to fight the mysterious lilt in it, the cryptic message, and the sexy undertone…DEAR LORD! WHERE DID SEXY COME FROM! My own hormones were betraying me in my dream! Nightmare! And it was just a guy's voice too, I tried to tell myself.

After a couple more minutes of going around in circles about whoever's voice that was, I finally moved to another door to use as a good distraction. What I saw scared the living hell out of me. Screaming, I clamped my eyes shut and tried to push away the image that was burned into my mind. Suddenly, someone gripped on my shoulders, trying to calm me. Huh? Grip on my shoulders? I opened my eyes again and I came face to face with Warren Peace.

"Holy Shit!" I shrieked falling out of my chair. The smell of antibacterial solutions and candy brought me back to the world of the living. The first thing that I focused on was the worried looking face of Will.

"Oh my God Will, you don't know how glad I am that you're okay!" I said lunging at him. I successfully latched myself around his waist. Suddenly, I remembered what lay behind Door Number Three. In barely any time at all, I was on the other side of the infirmary, as far away from Will as I could get. He looked at me as if I needed to be locked away.

"Eh heh heh…" I chucked nervously, "Bad dream." Will laughed.

"Must've been. You were rolling around violently," He said happily while motioning for me to follow him out the door, "Come on, let's go. Ron's gonna give us a ride home." I followed him and we made our way down the unusually empty school halls to the front of the school.

"So did Nurse Spex tell you?" Will got serious.

"Yeah," he said, but immediately changed the topic, "So, what was your dream like?" I frowned.

"Funky," I replied, "It was so weird. First, I was stuck in this pitch-black darkness, then shrunken down to ten year-old state and then opened some doors that showed me weird visions."

"What kinds of visions?" Will asked while slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Well, the first one was of this tall looking guy picking on some poor defenseless person. The second was just a vision of white room." I conveniently left out the part about the nice voice. "The last one, I can't clearly make out, but it scared me." I had lied about that one, but I didn't want to tell him about it. "And then, when I thought I had woken up, I was screaming, but someone comforted me and, poof, I'm awake." I also found it better not to mention it had been Warren Peace who had doing the hold and comforting. Jeeze, Warren seemed to be on my mind a lot today. Surprising I would be so hung up on him even though we hadn't even met each other formally yet.

"Wow. Some dream," Will said thoughtfully, "You won't tell Dad, will you? You know, about the Sidekick thing?" he looked at me hopefully.

"I wasn't planning to Will." He sighed in relief, "But I want you to tell Dad. He needs to know, and he needs to know from you." I added pulling Will closer. "You're strong Will, no matter what any stupid coach says. You'll get there no matter what. But I don't want you to hesitate coming to me for help. I will always strive to be there for you, to protect you." Will pulled me into big awkward bear hug as we continued walking.

"You know, the protecting thing is meant to be a brother's job."

"Who said I had to lisetn to rules?"

"You're starting to sound like Layla." I cuffed his head gently. "I love you Sis, you know?"

"I know. I love you too Bro."

It was people like Will who made it worth having a crappy life.

Na-Na: Hey! I'm sorry if this chapter seemed screwy, but I'm a screwy person, so that's how things usually come out. But I am really liking how this story is going even though I'm still confused by the pairings. Please review though! They're the only thing that keep this story alive!

Also, when I was explaining Tenni's power to Boomer, was "Aquakinesis" the right term? I have no idea.

Xmarksthespot: Yesss...Love my story...Jedi mind powers say so. Thanks for reviewing.

Tenni: Ahh, my lovely. You just keep reviewing.

DemonicAngelus: I think I danced in happiness for two whole minutes after reading your review for the first time. I also really liked how Tenni and Warren do that.

SmithysTrivia: Yeah. I as aiming for originality when I made Tenni his cousin. Glad you liked it.

Moontrimmer: Thanks for the compliments towards me and Tenni. I really tried with her. The Strongholds adopting her made sure she'd be deep within the plot.

Nelle07: It's a good thing you like it. I hope you keep liking it.

Ghostly Green: I'm sorry it takes four days, I just like pacing myself. I usually stay a couple of chapters ahead but I post them between intervals so they get reviews. But I'll keep writing if that's any consolation.

Arisa-san: Uo-chan! You wound me! Tenni's not stupid, just overly shy! In a weird way... Anyhoo, I'm glad you've continued to review, so keep reviewing.

Next Update: Confessions

Monday, January 16th