A/N: I apologize for my long update; I've been trying to update all my stories.
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, or Aladdin. But Mel, RJ and their parents are characters that belong to me. I'm creating this story with Kangaroobeedoodle, but I wrote this chapter except for the part when Shara comes into the room. The character Shara belongs to Kangaroobeedoodle.
I had to post this again because in the first version of Chapter 2 I made a lot of mistakes. Special thanks to Kangaroobeedoodle for pointing out the mistakes.
Chapter Two: What's Wrong With Me
Mel grasped her little brother's hand. "RJ, please wake up. Please wake up and tell your big sister that everything's going to be okay."
Flashback, Mel: 3 years old
A three year-old Mel sat on the couch with her father, watching "Aladdin." Mel was sitting on her father's lap, smiling whenever Iago said something funny. The scene that approached next was when Jafar was hypnotizing the Sultan.
Mel took her locket off of her neck and swung it in front of her father's face, pretending to hypnotize him. "I'm hypnotizing you," she said through hand signs.
"Oh, no! I'm being hypnotized!" her father said with a smile. "Mommy, your daughter is hypnotizing me!" he called out to his wife.
Mel grinned as her father stared into her eyes and she stared into his. "Mel, are you hypnotizing your father?" an adult female voice called from the other room. Mel's mother came into the room just then. "With your locket?" Mel smiled at her mother and nodded.
Mel's mother came toward Mel and sat beside her on the couch. "You have to be careful with this locket, Mel," she said, taking the golden locket out of her daughter's hands. "It cost Daddy and I a lot of money and we bought it special for you."
"Mommy's right," Mel's father spoke up. He took the locket from his wife, and opened it. Inside were two small pictures. On the left was Mel's mom, and to the right was Mel's dad. "Don't ever lose this."
"Whenever you look inside this locket, Mel, you know that your mommy and daddy love you very much," Mel's mother said. She kissed Mel's forehead and ruffled her short brown hair. "More than the whole world, and nobody can take that away."
For days now RJ had been unconscious. For days Mel had been by his side, and for days she had eaten nothing.
There was a knock on the hospital door, and Mel awoke with a start. She first looked toward RJ, who was still asleep. She prayed he had not woken up while she was sleeping, and wobbled to the door to open it. When she did, she was surprised to see her best friend standing there.
Shara?
Shara, not being the emotional type, wasn't crying. Her face didn't look as cheerless as Tory and Donald's were, but she didn't look happy either. Her gaze shifted to the floor, and Mel knew that Shara didn't know what to do in a situation like this. After a long pause, Shara looked back up at Mel. Her arms slowly lifted with hesitation, and she wrapped them around her friend's neck.
Mel's brown eyes grew wide. Shara? You're hugging me? Mel hesitated to hug Shara back as well, but did so anyway. I don't think I've ever seen Shara hug someone.
Flashback, Mel: 4 years old
"He's beautiful."
The Porter parents were in a hospital room. Nicholas was kneeling next to the hospital bed, and Susan was in it, a baby boy in her arms. "He's just so beautiful, Nicholas," she repeated.
"What will we name him?" Nicholas asked. He stuck out his finger, and the baby wrapped his tiny fingers around it.
"I'm going to name him after my History teacher in college. He taught me nearly everything I needed to know," Susan said, smiling up at her husband. "Ronald Jonathan."
"Ronald Jonathan Porter," Nicholas said, thinking about the name. "I'll call him RJ for short."
Susan's gaze traveled to the baby's chocolate brown eyes. "I knew it," she said. "I knew we could have a normal one. Nothing went wrong this time, and he talks…" The baby fell asleep, and she reached out to touch the small chubby face. "This one's perfect."
"Mary Lou," the nurse said. Mel stood up from her chair. The nurse was standing behind the doorway. "It's been three days, now. We have to turn off the machines." Mel shook her head and slammed the door, locking it. I won't let them.
Flashback: Mel: 10 Years old, RJ: 6 years old
Mel swung her legs as she sat in the tall chair in the doctor's office. The doctor and her mother were arguing, and even though she could only understand half of what they were talking about, she knew her mother would never feel the same way about her, again.
"What's wrong with her?" her mother asked, pointing at her daughter.
"I told you a million times, Susan," the doctor said, growing impatient. "Mary Lou is a mutant."
"My daughter is NOT a mutant!" Susan argued, raising her voice. "She's just sick!"
"You told me she can place herself in one's body, taking complete control of their actions," the doctor said. "What she has is something I cannot heal. Nobody can."
Nicholas put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Susan, Mel is just fine the way she is. She's been a mutant all her life, for three years. We may have not been aware of it but she has been."
Susan suddenly burst into tears and threw her arms around Nicholas. He comforted her by holding her as well. Sobbing, Susan said, "But I don't want her to be a mutant… I want our daughter to be normal, like RJ is normal…"
Mel, having no one to hug, pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them tightly. She turned her head trying to hide from her mother's gaze, and yanked off the locket that had lied to her for ten years.
Flashback: A Month Later
Mel cried for her brother underneath the covers of her bed. The news had been confirmed two days ago: six year-old RJ had been diagnosed with cancer. How long he had to live was unknown, but it was predicted to be only a few years. She could hear her mother crying from the other room, "Why do all my children turn out like this? My daughter is a mutant and mute, my son has leukemia…!"
The covers lifted, cold air rushing to ten year-old Mel's sweaty face. RJ climbed into the bed and went under the covers with her. "I'm okay, Mel. See? I'm awake." Mel continued to cry, as if she couldn't hear a word. RJ hugged his older sister, and Mel hugged him back. "I still have a long time to live."
Mel's hand shook, trying her best to make out the hand signs: "You're going to die."
The tears finally came to RJ's eyes, streaming down his cheeks. "I know," he said. "But I planned it all out."
Mel lifted her head, still confused. She was sniffling.
RJ smiled weakly. "When I die, I'm going to ask the angel that comes to get me to give you a voice."
Mel shook her head. "How do you know that's really going to work?" she asked through hand signs, thinking it was impossible.
"Because God loves us," RJ said, sure of himself.
The door opened, and a doctor appeared with a key in his hand. "Mary Lou, no matter how much you don't want us to, we have to shut off the machines."
Flashback, A Second Later
Almost a second after RJ told Mel his plan, the door burst open. Mel shot up out of the covers to find Susan standing in the doorway. Her face was red and covered in tears, and she was bawling. "This is all your fault!" she shouted at Mel. "You cursed this family! I should have NEVER given birth to you!" She picked up Mel by the arms. If Mel could scream, she would have right then and there. "RJ was PERFECT! Every child I have will turn out like YOU, won't they?!" She shook Mel and looked her in the eye. "WON'T THEY, MEL?!"
"Mel!" RJ called, jumping out of the bed. "Daddy! Help!"
"Susan!" Nicholas came into the room just then, and saw his wife shaking Mel as hard as she could. "Have you gone mad?!"
RJ began wailing and crying. "Don't hurt Mel! Don't hurt Mel!" RJ repeated over and over. He ran over to his mother and took a hold of her leg, trying his best to make her let go.
This gave Mel an opportunity. She stared into her mother's eyes, and went into her body. Once there, she set her own body down on the bed, and then went back into it. RJ let go of Susan and gave Mel a hug. "Let's go, Mel!" he said, taking her hand. The two siblings jumped out the window, and ran. Hopefully they would find someone to love both of them enough to take them in and accept them.
When RJ turned eleven, he and Mel found out that he had control over air; he, too, was a mutant.
"We have to shut off the machines, Mary Lou," the doctor repeated. He reached out his hand to press a button on the wall.
NO! Mel screamed inside her head. She used all the strength she could to hold the doctor back. I won't let you!
"M-Mel?"
Mel let go of the doctor and looked at her brother. His eyes were open.
A/N: There are only about one or two more chapters to go.
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