Chapter one.
Amron awoke to the sound of a screaming alarm; he glanced at the clock before leaping out of his bed, he knew he hit the snooze one too many times, but he had another long night thanks to his father. His alarm had never been so welcoming in his entire life. The mere sound of the repetitive beeps in their high pitched tempo was equivalent to the sound of angel's singing, well at least in comparison to the bitching he would have had to listen to had he been late for Kevin's birthday again. Amron lurched up out of his bed, body glistening with sweat; heart pounding in his chest trying to make a desperate attempt to burst from his ribcage and into the world.
Amron had that same dream for the last two years, the same dream with the exact same outcome. Waking up in a cold sweat was not his ideal way to start off the day. Worse than that, waking up to the realization that it was a dream that could never come true didn't sit well with him. Plus he was pissed, He hadn't had a good lay in two months and his fucking wet dreams weren't helping.
Looking outside he noticed it was raining. Hard beads crashed against the window pane, he'd got courtsides seats to the Jets vs. the Seahawks game and hoped the weather didn't get so bad that it would ground their flight. Today was his best friend Kevin's eighteenth birthday and it was suppose to be something that should have started off happy. Instead, it already felt like it would just be another day complete with longing dreams, sweat-soaked sheets and two months wasted of planning.
"Amron! Are you up yet? You're going to be late for school!" Sighing, Amron pulled the covers away from his legs and rolled out of bed. Mumbling about over-bearing housekeepers, standing and stretching he rolled his eyes. As she walked into his room and set down a stack of clean clothing and bed linens. Typical Lisa, the woman had seemed to be oblivious to his state of dress. Lately she always seemed to have much on her mind and even more on her plate.
"Well if I wasn't I am now." Marked Amron not even bothering to try and hide his naked form.
Lisa chatted on about all the things she still had to do and complained about how she was getting to old to handle the run of the place on her own. She began to pick up his unclean clothing off the floor and stuff them into the wash-bag.
"Well. There's nothing I can do about it." Amron said as he pulled his closet door open and picked out something warm to wear.
"You could let me hire someone else." She said. Instantly and silently she mouthed his reply. She knew him better then he thought. For all the effort he took to make sure people didn't get too close, she had, and she loved him like a son. I don't like a lot of people in my space. A giggle - like something you'd hear from a young school girl escaped her lips when she noticed she'd been caught mocking him. She was sure that had she been anyone else the teasing would not have gone unchecked.
Amron stared down at the mound of clothing crumpled and dumped haphazardly on the floor. Lisa had been loading them in a laundry bag and was struggling to heave the bag up when Amron Shrugged and took the bag from her and walked it in to the laundry room. Returning to his closet he opted for his black leather boots, a white button up shirt with light blue pinstripes and dark blue jeans, along with equally fashionable accessories: Diamond earring, silver watch and rings, and a seashell choke chain.
Yawning again, he threw the clothing onto his bed and headed towards the bathroom. He couldn't resist the hiss that came out as he scrunched his eyes at the harsh artificial light. Weird but lately, his eyes seemed more sensitive than they had ever been before. A few other things had seemed off lately and he supposed he should tell Toney, but he really didn't see the point. It wasn't harming him and it could wait at least another day. Amron parted the shower curtain and hopped in; turning on the tap as near freezing water hit his skin. Talk about a shock to the system. If the dream hadn't already woke him, he sure as hell wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep now, after being doused in ice water.
He always forgot to let the water run, everything else in the building was renovated but it was still a prewar building and there was only so much that could be done. The old pipes and heating system still worked fine - provided you gave them time to work – So Toney didn't replace them. All in all, the cold water didn't really bother him after the initial shock. So he gave another shrug and washed up, brushed his teeth, dried off and tugged on the clothes he picked out.
He was half way to the door when he heard Lisa yelling at him to come eat the breakfast she made. There was no way to resist the smile that tugged at his lips. He heard the determined set to her voice that said she broker no deals. Lisa was really great in her own strange, little way. She'd been like the mother he never had and was there for him. She stood with her back facing him, mumbling to herself as she pack two breakfast containers filled with pancakes, grits, eggs, bacon, fried apples and a mini carton of OJ. "One's for Kevin." she smiled stuffing a card in Kevin's bag. Her gray hair was pulled up into a messy bun, several strands sticking out, her thin and narrow body covered by a bulky apron as she worked She smiled again handing him the two bags and wished him well. "I'll have dinner on by time you get in."
Amron grin while crossing his arms - back leaning into the doorframe he accepted the bag and headed for the door, he turned as he reached it. "Lisa."
"Yes dear." her bright green eyes staring into his own, the lines of age leaving her face as she sent him a blindingly white smile.
She really did do a lot around here. "You can hire a couple of people to help out around here but my personal things are off-limits to anyone but you."
Lisa smiled knowing that for her boy that was as close of a thank you as she was going to get. She went back to cleaning; knowing better then to make a big deal of his kindness. When the door clicked shut and only after she was sure he was gone did she wipe the tear from her eye. "I can't believe it; my little man is growing up."
Amron was half way down the hall and even between a door and solid brick walls he could still hear her words. He cringed at the thought of her calling him that in public, even still it sent a sort of warm feeling racing through him. As he made his way to the elevator his cell phone rung, looking at the caller I.D. he picked it up. "Hi dad."
Toney Starks deep voice drummed out. "Hi son, I've got another Job I need you to take care of."
Jay had been confined to doing mediocre chores. He'd missed being an active X-men but ever sense he'd gotten back people have been walking on egg shells around him and treating him as if he were going to fall apart. He was sick of it and there was nothing he could do about it. If it wasn't for his rising music career he'd have lost his marbles already.
"Jay… Jay!"
"Hmm" Jay shrugged off his inner rant and turned to see that Hank was calling him.
Hank looked skeptically at Jay for a moment. "Come here."
Jay stood before Hank and the other doctors with all his hopes showing brightly on his face as they examined the open wounds on his back, where his wings had once been. They reminded him of a group of crows, gathered over their latest victim; he knew that he would hear bad news. But not even that thought could dampen his hopes. Not today, not after everything he's been through.
For the past year, he endured doctor after doctor. Hank and his team had worked diligently on re-growing his missing wings. They examined him from head to toe, using every spare coin, every spare moment. Like a man possessed, Hank had dragged out books after books, spent all night at the lab, worked with only the firelight to guide him so as not to wake jay up. It was a moot gesture, Jay's new powers had been growing, he could detect people in his sleep now, a fact that he chose to keep to himself for the time being.
With every turn of a page, every book, Hank had felt more certain of his cure.
It was perfect. There were no discrepancies in the test or read-outs.
Truly, it was a masterpiece.
Moreover, if they accepted it, then he would finally be ready to give it to Jay. At long last, Jay would be a whole person! All his dreams, flying freely in the open skies would come true. There would be no more days of being shut up behind the manor walls from sunup to sundown.
He could be his own person again...
He could–.
"Not good enough."
Jay blinked at the harsh pronouncement as he stared at the four men before him.
"P-pardon?" Hank was at a loss for words.
"Not good enough," Nathaniel Essex lip curled as he looked at Hanks precious cure. "It's just not going to work."
Jay couldn't breathe, probably because Hank couldn't breathe. Sometimes it sucked being empathic. No, it wasn't just his empathy working to make him feel this way. He was hoping that he would be cured to, that tonight he could walk on stage at his concert as the Icarus he once was.
Hank's jaw dropped a moment later. What! He was wrong. He had to be. "But I–."
"Take it," Nathaniel said, tossing the vile at him. "Come back to me when you're worthy of the trade."
Unable to move, he stood there with it slipping from his hand. Instinctively, he held it to him even though he didn't know why he bothered to protect it.
Jay could feel Hanks soul cried out in disappointment as all his dreams withered and died in the cold room.
How could they say such a thing about his work? It was a lie. He knew it. His read outs were perfect.
Perfect!
Jay wanted to scream that word out, but all the bitter disappointment gathered in his throat to tighten it and choke him. Damn now he really hated his new powers, if it wasn't for Hanks shock and emotions weighing down on him, he'd have given that asshole a piece of his mind.
This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be real. Hank just stood there. Thomas Cassidy came forward and pulled him away, toward the door in the back. Tears fell uncontrollably from his face as the harsh words echoed repeatedly in his head.
How could it not be worthy?
"I spent all my time on this," he whispered, his heart breaking. "All my precious time."
How could this be? And poor Joshua.
"Tis not your work," a man whispered as he pulled Hank from the room. "There are too many fluctuating genomes in the boy's body. In addition, the agent that's causing this keeps on mutating. So see it's not your work, had it been any other person it would work we're sure of it, but it's not…"
Was that supposed to comfort him? To console Jay or his family? Damn them all for this!
"Take my word for it, Hank, the boy's better off with just using the regenerating pills you gave him."
"How so? He would have to take them his whole life, the process is painful and takes hours and with each dose it becomes less and less effective."
He placed his hand on Hanks shoulder. "You have bigger problems than this. Believe me."
Before he could ask him what he meant, the man pushed bye Hank, sorry McCoy I have to go. He watched Sean walk out the door and sank into the earth.
Jay sat there for an hour propped on the edge of the bed with all Hanks dreams shattered. No more like their dreams, cause at some point during Hanks all-nighter's they had become his dreams to.
Jay finally pulled out his suitcase and filled it with a few days worth of close, walking over to his nightstand he grabbed the bottle of pills and tossed them in as well. He was still depended upon the med's and so long as he bore that title, he couldn't go on missions. Couldn't do anything more than minor task or basic stuff of importance that head Mistress Emma, deemed safe for him to do.
He had no life to call his own. And from the looks of it, he never would. He was tired of being a cage bird, bitter anger washed through Jay as he stared at his perfectly useless nubs of wings.
"What good are you!" he sobbed leaving the room without a word.
All was lost. There was a slight knock at the door, it was the new boy, Marcus; a speedster. Even before the knock came Jay found himself saying yeah I know I'm coming.
"Joshua the car's here for you, your manager… oh, right… do you need help down."
"Sure." Jay unlocked the door to see a bright eyed boy looking up at him.
"So you can see the future, you know everything I'm going to say or do, before I do it?" smiled the young boy.
"For the most part but it's not quite like you think. I can read a person's mind and tell what their thinking and what they are planning to do, but that's because they've chosen their course of action. I'm not all that good at clearly defining precise futures out of so many possibilities."
"Why not?" the question was innocent and full of honest curiosity, it was something only a child of his age could pull off.
Joshua smiled down at the eight year old. "There are simply too many un-chosen course of actions, as choices are maid the possible futures narrow themselves down."
"Oh!" Marcus smiled up at him as he grabbed the heavier suitcase. Jay was about to offer to carry it then remembered that speedsters are not only faster but much stronger then they look.
Marcus had just finished loading the trunk when he managed to get up the nerve to ask Jay for his autograph and a picture. Jay had the digital camera out already and a smile on his face.
"I guess you knew I was going to ask, hmm?" Marcus bit his bottom lip nervously.
Jay couldn't help but smile at the sheepish look on Marcus face. It made him remember meeting the X-men for the first time. He still had all their autographs from his first year even Bobby Drake's who wasn't much older than he was now.
"I did and I was looking forward to it?"
Marcus's smile brightened an childish laugh filled the air – instantly lifting Jay's mood – there was an energy about Marcus that just seemed to a little uplifting. The limo driver honked the horn, yelling out that they would miss the flight if he didn't leave now. Jay scribbled his name on the photo, as he heard his manager saying something about hurrying or losing the job.
Marcus laughed again as Jay rush to get in the limo.
"Sure dad, I got - it White-Plains, School for the gifted, Genetic research files. I'll get to it first thing tomorrow."
The streets of New York were always busy or so it felt like. At times it seemed like he could be up at four in the morning and still almost get run over at least once. But it really didn't matter as he turned the corner plastic containers still in hand, a smirk moving over his face at the sight of his best friend, Kevin Haller, attempting to catch nuts in his mouth.
Silently Amron shook his head, He couldn't believe they were still friends, since the first day of college - even after he'd been such an asshole. Even Kevin had changed, gone were the cherry red locks he had known in place for a midnight black colored mohawk, his all too skinny body was now leaner like that of a swimmer and much different from his own heavier build. All that remained to prove he was Kevin were his mismatched eyes, one a pale blue almost gray in the right light and the other one a rich green, along with the strangely addictive, mischievous grin that was perpetually on his face.
After watching Kevin fail to catch his six batch of nuts since his arrival. Amron decided to let his presence be known by coughing. Mismatched eyes looked up at him before his grin stretched wider across his face. "Kevin! Happy birthday! Must be nice to be legal? Can't wait until we can both get shagged up and down the wall by Mrs. Kidd without her getting arrested."
Kevin rolling his eyes, playfully shoved Amron out of the way before stepping ahead of him to head to his first class, slowing his pace he looked back to allow Amron to catch up. "you coming." Amron really was the stereotypical teenage boy. All he had was sex on the brain, to the point that Kevin had found himself stuck in several bad situations. Still not sure what was worse, getting caught for peeping or having been forced to see a 70 year old showering. Shivering at the memory, Kevin turned his attention back to his friend in an effort to repress that dark moment back into the darkest confines of his mind. "Thanks. So what's the plan for today?" asked Kevin as he waited.
Amron's grin widened to the point of obscuring his entire face and he cocked his head to the side. Kevin couldn't help but think how atypical the look suited him, maybe he just had an over-active imagination, but Kevin could swear that Amron looked like some sort of Cheshire cat, and he should know it was a look he could have packaged and sold as often as he'd used it.
"Well, I was thinking…" Amron started. "It's your eighteenth birthday and that's pretty damn cool. So," He threw an arm around Kevin's shoulders, grinning malevolently at him and immediately Kevin started shaking his head, that grin always meant trouble. But still he found it odd seeing that grin on his high strung goodie - goodie friend.
"I was thinking," Amron continued, not at all deterred from his pursuit. "Why don't we take a break from today's classes? Say, what if we, I don't know, go to the Jets vs. the Seahawks game instead…" Amron could see the hesitation and thought it wouldn't hurt to mention that his favorite singer would be there. "Icarus is playing the half time concert today."
"What? They're having a concert? I never even heard about it. How did you get tickets?" Despite himself, Kevin couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice and that just caused Amron's grin to take on a near demonic level. Amron knew Kevin was caught; there was no way he could go to class now after hearing about his favorite metal band being in town and on his birthday of all days!
Amron smiled, Hopefully Lisa could forgive him for letting her believe that he was going to class. Amron quickly shook his head. "Not in town, in Seattle." Kevin opened his mouth in protest, but was cut off when a hand adorned with silver rings was pressed into his face and against his mouth. "Don't worry about it! All we have to do is get to the airport and then about 5 hours and we're there. I've already got it all planned out. You have to let me do this for you, all I got you last year was grounded for three weeks. Let me make it up to you, we might see some attractive ladies looking for a good time?" Wiggling an eyebrow at Kevin, Amron watched as his friend gave in with a slow nod. If Kevin said no, he'd be harassed all day long and really, he did owe this to me and it was Icarus and a Jets game.
"Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" smiled Kevin, this was not at all like Amron, it was as if their roles were switched around, he was the horny outgoing adventurous teen, not Amron.
"I knew you'd say yes! Thank God you did actually, because the tickets are non-refundable."
They never were the sort of friends to be sappy around each other, but Amron really didn't know what he would do without Kevin. They'd been friends for so long it would be a strange world to wake up without seeing him around somewhere. In fact, Amron didn't want to think about it. Instead he watched Kevin ramble on and on about how awesome the concert would be and tried to keep his mind off that stupid dream he kept having.
Unconsciously, Amron rubbed at his neck. This time he almost seemed to feel the soft lips from his dream touching his flesh. Maybe it was anxiety about the Jobs his father had him doing. Yes, that had to be it. He refused to believe it was anything other than that. Obviously the kiss was some sort of analogy or something like that. Glancing at a still ranting Kevin, who had now taken to flaying his arms around as they walked, Amron wondered if he should tell Kevin about the dream.
Amron never hidden anything from the boy beside him and honestly didn't think he'd ever hidden anything from him. In fact, he didn't think Kevin was the type of person to keep things to himself at all. His eyes are too honest and kind to keep things from anyone and at times he really wished he was like that. Amron never been too outspoken, and it was safer to keep people at a distance, it was about the only thing him and Toney agreed upon. Kevin is quite literally; his only real friend and Amron even kept Lisa in the dark about most things.
Kevin tried to cheer him up onetime when he was feeling particularly down about it by saying. "Maybe you just liked being a solitary person or maybe you just didn't want to worry people who cared about you." Amron really didn't know what to think at the moment about the odd comment from a boy he hardly knew; though, that was nearly four years ago. He didn't want to bother his best friend with his problems, not when he was so excited about the concert. Plus, Amron was hoping Kevin's enthusiasm would rub off on him; if only a little then he could stop feeling weird about his stupid dream.
"Off to the airport then?" Amron threw in randomly, cutting Kevin off from saying something.
"Hell yeah! Wait, let's grab something to eat first, I'm starving to death. By the way, it's your treat right Amron?" smiled Kevin adopting his all too familiar grin. "So um what's in the bag, another gift you shouldn't have?" Kevin's voice lifted with a lilt of mirth, his mismatched eyes a reflection of that playful joy that sung in his voice.
Amron blinked and looked down at his hands, Amron watching as water dripped down his fingers and along the side of the plastic bag. What was wrong with him? He'd forgotten all about Lisa's gift. Maybe there really was something wrong with him and it was more than the dream. "Uh, actually. Just slipped my mind I guess," he murmured, taking one of the lukewarm breakfast dishes from the bag. "This is from Lisa."
"If you say so," Kevin's voice was still laced with a hint of concern. Amron sighed at having ruined the mood. Attempting a smile, he handed Kevin the bag, who took said offering with a suspicious look. "Here, this will hold you until we get off the plain, I don't think you'll find anything better, Lisa made that for you, she said happy birthday by the way." Thankfully enough, the words were enough to reform at least a small smile. Amron really hated it when people worried about him.
Amron gave Kevin a pat on the back. "Besides of course I would pay, it's your birthday so it's my treat. You shouldn't be giving anything to anyone today." There was a pause and Kevin knew what was coming next. "Unless you're giving a good shag, of course."
Kevin laughed and for a moment he thought that being eighteen really could be a great thing. After all, it is suppose to be a day you never forget.
It only took them an hour and ten minutes to get to the JFK airport and then another hour to get on the plain. Amron had gotten first class tickets and he and Kevin were now lounging in nice plush seats. They talked for a bit but after the first hour Amron felt the call of asleep, and as his eyelids closed his vision blurred to stormy skies and the smell of sea water.