Re-Awakening
Blood.
The crimson liquid stained the thin blades of metal...
It spattered the walls...
It stained the floor...
Earth...
Fire...
Water...
Air...
What did they mean?
Crushed.
Burned.
Drowned.
Suffocated.
See them all... watch them...
Rage...
Revenge
Hate...
Despair
Death...
Justice
War...
Murderer
Do you remember?
"The burning sky, the gore-stained land, the crumbling mountains... yes..."
Scales against Flesh...?
Fighting with heart and soul...?
"The vicious battle... the destruction... I remember "
The white-hot intensity of absolute hatred..?
"Yes..."
"The roaring never stopped... ringing in my ears."
"It never stops..."
"The desperate attempts of my father to defend us... my mother... both failed... I failed..."
"Magic... I escaped... Where?"
"Who? Who am I?"
"I died?"
I watched the blade ripping through his heart. He dropped to the floor, bleeding. His blood created pools of deep red liquid. All I could do was watch. My mother is protecting us. She lashes out, defending us with her life. Once in the neck, twice through the heart. The spears never seemed to stop...
"Leave them alone!" I yelled. I've lost them. My parents... gone...
"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" screamed Entity, jolting instantly into a sitting position, panic consuming him. His eyes were wide with horror and his breath came in short, ragged gasps.
The desk at the far wall exploded violently, sending splinters in all directions. The telekinetic disruptions continued as the mirror shattered, sending shards of glass into the wall opposite. Fear clutched his heart with an icy claw and the sweat drenched his bed. The room was shaking. The floorboards were going berserk in a chorus of groaning and creaking, threatening to break.
Fire lit the duvet sending smoke and ashes into the heated air.
"Control... regain control... regain... regain control..." Entity thought to himself, trying as hard as he could to calm down and focus before his powers began to destroy the mansion.
A quiet sob escaped his throat...
"Calm down! It was just a fucking dream! Just a dream..."
"S- so real...," he whispered aloud, staring ahead of him and trying to distract himself.
He felt curiously dizzy as he climbed out of his bed and stumbled slightly across the floor. He raised a hand to his head, but was stopped. He'd hit his mouth and nose in his attempt to massage his head and that was unusual since he couldn't remember his mouth and nose being so far from his face. He went cross-eyed as is vision focussed on his nose. There seemed to be something attached to his face. Something dark and slightly shiny.
Reaching his hands up to pull it off, he felt his hands close around his mouth and nose.
"That's not right...," He thought, looking at his hands.
His hands were on the black thing over his face, but it felt like his hands were on his mouth and nose still. At the same time it occurred to him that this black thing was his face and was in fact a snout, he noticed his hands. A slow, shaky breath vented from his throat as he watched his glossy white talons (attached to a pair of huge, muscular, black-scaled hands) release his face.
He watched as they began to shake, and listened as his breathing sped up. His heart pounded in his ears. His brain was silent, unable to discover any reason behind this sudden transformation.
The bed collapsed and practically crumpled as more power was accidentally exerted. Some emotions were hard to shut away. Impossible to ignore and one as powerful as fear could be deadly.
A thought flickered through his brain... It occurred to him that, unless he calmed, it was possible to die from shock... he had to calm down but this being impossible, he decided to do the only other thing that could save him.
Psychically locking his consciousness away from his physical body, he passed out completely, falling into the comfort of darkness and slumping limply to the floor.
What he guessed to be several hours later, he awoke. His brain was instantly forced into action as he didn't want to begin panicking again.
"Earlier you suffered a transformation that was most likely due to mutation. Remember, you do have a second ability and it could be that it activated today and you just weren't prepared for it. Stay calm. Check a mirror. Don't panic," He ordered himself, burying his imminent fear in theories and ideas. At this point, it was critical to remain cool, calm, and collected... but it wasn't easy.
He reached out in the dark for the doorhandle. His hand (or at least, what he hoped was his hand) closed around it and in a small click, it opened. Not daring to look at himself, he ran for the bathroom. The only trouble was, it became apparent that he still had a snout.
"Shit...," he muttered, but it emerged as a gruff mumble. His tongue felt longer and his teeth felt even sharper. He kept walking, even as he felt his heart speeding up even more.
Sealing the bathroom door behind him, Entity was finally safe from any prying eyes. Cautiously he approached the mirror, unsure of what he would find staring back.
"Start at the top, work down and analyse scientifically rather then freaking out...," he told himself, over and over...
The clean white bathroom was reflected in the mirror, but then was disturbed by a large black creature...
"OhGodohGodohGod...," he whispered...
Two long, black horns barely fit in the mirror frame. Two more horns below them, and another smaller set below them. These were located at the back of a black-scaled, reptilian head with small dark spikes running from the very top of the head, down to wherever they ended. A pair of dark, almost snake-like eyes looked back at him with a look of silent, suppressed fear. A long snout ended in two slit-like nostrils. Gleaming white teeth hooked over the lips of the creature and a long, pink, forked tongue was visible inside the creatures gaping maw.
Two, huge, bat-like wings unfurled behind it and quivered ever so gently in the slight breeze from the open window. The membranes between these wings were greyish and looked to be very thin, not to mention light. The small, shining black scales coated the rest of the upper half, apart from the neck and chest area.
Rather then scales, these areas were covered by some type of organic armour plating that was rock solid to the touch, yet flexible. Upon further inspection, this plating covered the abdomen as well and hooked around at the fork of his legs to form the underside of a huge, trunk-like tail that slowly waved from one side to the other. He couldn't help but weakly smile at his heavily muscled body. Admiring the gigantic muscles in his arms and torso, he turned to the left and his attention returned to the spikes on his back.
It seemed like the spikes from his head ran down to the tip of his tail, where a particularly large spike made up the actual tail tip.
At that moment, something nagged at his already currently fragile mind. Unsure wether he should, Entity thought carefully before deciding to find out. Careful not to freak, he looked down slowly at his groin. It seemed to be covered by a fragment of the underwear he'd been wearing as he slept. It was now torn and stretched... completely un-repairable.
Biting his lip with worry, anxiety and fear (the towel rail began to rattle uncontrollably), he removed the material from the area and as he surveyed himself, his breath caught in his throat. His eyes grew wide and his heart began to pound into over time.
"What... the... HELL?!" he whimpered.
The towel rail ripped itself from the wall and slammed into the bath, leaving a massive dent in the enamel.
It was clearly not just his muscles that had grown huge...
Feeling faint and close to passing out, Entity grabbed a towel from the crumpled rail and attempted to cover what he could of his lower region before sneaking out of the room and heading for the sub-basement. If there was any help to be had, it would come from down there.
He passed the med-lab, wondering wether Jess had woken. Remembering what Xavier said about 'keeping her unconscious until morning' entered his memory. No way was she up. The clicking of his claws on the metal tiles echoed through the area and he began to feel as though he was being followed.
He reached the science lab and decided, just in case, to make sure no one was in there first.
Entity cleared his throat with a growl, "Ahem... is... is anyone... in there?" he asked, trying to get his voice as gruff-less as possible.
"Entity? Is that you? What are you doing up this late?" replied a voice.
It was Beast... damn... now what?
"Wait... Beast is a scientist... maybe he can explain?" he thought. He could locate the answers himself, but he would have to confront the Negative Phoenix to do that and with his mind being as unstable as it currently was, that was not an option.
A curious feeling washed over him as his panic subsided for a moment. It felt as if he was being swept away and replaced by something else... as if his body was becoming trapped in a shell...
"Beast?!" Entity called, surprised to find his voice had returned to normal.
With a frown, he brought his hands to his face and examined the soft, pink skin on his palms. Letting go of the towel was a bad idea... it slid to his feet just as the door opened and Beast stepped into view.
Entity whipped down and grabbed the towel, quickly hiding his groin, but too late.
Beast's expression changed from a look of concern to a look of embarrassment, surprise and curiosity.
"May I ask what it is you are doing?" he asked in an odd tone.
"Something's... wrong with me... I... I didn't know... I didn't know what to...," he stammered, still in partial shock. The metal on the walls groaned in the strain of the telekinetic disturbance that still surrounded the teenager. The creaking created an eerie atmosphere as both people stood in silence.
Beast, now understanding the situation a little better, indicated for Entity to come inside.
"Sit up on the bench and explain clearly what you mean by that," Beast asked, busying himself with some sort of injection device.
"I was asleep... I woke up because I had a nightmare... I saw my hands and they'd changed... I went to the bathroom and saw me in the mirror and it was like... I'd become a massive black... dragon...," Entity finished, blushing at how stupid it sounded.
"You had a nightmare and you're seeking my help?" asked Beast, curiously.
"No... I woke up because of the nightmare, then found myself... changed...," Entity verified again.
"Are you sure it was real? Could it be possible that you hallucinated?" asked Beast, making sure Entity was sure.
"I'm absolutely positive that the transformation was real. I came down here to do a blood test and I only just turned back into a human...," Entity explained, his eyes unfocused.
"I'm going to run a blood test to check for any anomalies. Meanwhile, would you like a physical examination?" Beast asked, walking over to the seventeen year old with a needle.
"Erm... okay... if it helps...," he replied, eyeing the needle with distaste.
"It may help, but it may not. Hold still please, sir," Beast asked, wiping the area for the injection with a sterilised cotton bud before jabbing the needle gently into Entity's arm and extracting a decent amount of blood. After the blood was collected, he wiped the area clean with another cotton bud and put the blood into a petri dish and placed it under the microscope.
"Fascinating...," he mumbled, "I'll leave that to form. In the meantime, say ahh?" he asked, walking over to Entity with an object that resembled an ice-lolly stick. He placed it on Entity's tongue and pressed down, looking at the student's tonsils. He extracted the stick and tilted Entity's head to the side, then the other side, then he tilted it up and examined his neck.
"There does seem to be signs of distortion...," Beast muttered, " Your collar bone is shaping itself... as if it was shrinking after being stretched..."
"Peculiar..." mumbled Entity, calming down, but being agitated by the blue hairs that kept tickling him. He never mentioned it though, as it wasn't Beast's fault.
"There's some slight discolouration of your chest area... and... and...," Beast stopped talking.
Before him, Entity's body was beginning to transform again and once he was fully formed, all Beast could do was stare.
"It's rude to stare...," Entity pointed out, indicating towards Beast with a massive hand.
"Remarkable... simply remarkable!" he exclaimed, walking closer to feel Entity's right arm. Entity could barely feel him touching his scales as his fingers explored the firm muscles and smooth scaley skin.
"How does it feel?" asked Beast, analysing the tendons in the dragon's wrist.
"Powerful... awkward... great..." replied Entity, looking at himself. Noticing the towel slipping off of his lap, he quickly pulled it back over him and the slight embarrassment he felt created enough emotion to shatter a beaker of iodine on the bench opposite.
Beast turned in surprise, but Entity quickly explained.
"That was me. I apologise... It feels weird."
"What do you mean?" queried the scientist, raising a blue eyebrow.
The cabinets rumbled on the walls as Entity considered what to do.
"Just remember, he's a scientist... he's a scientist. He's a scientist..." Entity thought to himself.
Biting his lip, he removed the towel, allowing Beast to view his lower half. He quickly replaced it, as the cold air was making him feel odd and the last thing he needed was to get any bigger.
Beast chuckled slightly, "That's nothing to be ashamed of. It's simple reptilian anatomy, only larger. I'll leave you to figure... well... you out..." Beast said, scratching the back of his head.
"Blood test?" reminded Entity, pointing to the microscope, desperate to change the conversation before he made the other mutant's head explode.
"Ah yes," Beast said, wandering over to the test and carefully analysing the blood, "Just as I thought... you have formed another mutation... but..."
"But what?"
"But... I'll have to get back to you on that one...," Beast finished, unable to draw any conclusions from the sample. There was a hint off odd confusion in Beast's expression, as if he'd found something that he found disturbing... but he never said anything.
By the time he looked back at Entity, he was in human form again.
"What am I going to do about clothes?" Entity asked, thinking back to the torn underwear.
"Good point...," Beast began, searching for a solution for some time before replying, "I believe there is a pair of underwear in the Danger Room changing rooms that allows for expansion and then contraction without distorting, warping or tearing. The only problem is, they weren't designed for mutants with tails..."
"I can modify them. Where are they again?" Entity asked, getting up from the bench and being sure to keep the towel around him.
"Changing rooms, left hand side of the battle-suit lockers," Beast explained, pointing to the door.
"Thank you," the teen muttered before disappearing from the room.
Grabbing a pair of the shorts and putting them on as fast as possible, Entity sprinted back up to his room and slammed the door behind him. Trouble was, it didn't close. Rather then banging shut, it caught the end of a large black tail...
With a yell of pain, Entity blasted the door off it's hinges and freed his tail, which lashed about in an attempt to rid the pain. During this process, it knocked the bedside lamp off of it's perch on the table and sent it crashing to the floor.
A dull thumping on his wall let him know that he'd woken Cyclops, next door. Not really caring, he collapsed onto his demolished bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, waiting for his body to shift back into human form. He felt his body shrink slightly to a size that was still bigger then his human form, but was still less then seven foot tall.
"Well, at least the shorts work," he thought, glancing down at the fabric that covered his lower area. The material, adapted from Shi'ar clothing, repaired itself upon receiving damage. Therefore, when his tail emerged and tore through the back of the shorts, they formed around it and fit snugly, still looking stylish. He assumed that they would re-shape when his tail disappeared, but there was plenty of time to find out.
He felt his body expand once more before feeling his distinctive human size. Running a curious hand over his chest, he discovered bare skin and fell into a relieved, but awkward, slumber.