Of The Bonds That Bind
Abby Ebon
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Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel or X-Men. Nice Try.
: Dark's Thoughts to Daisuke:
-Daisuke's Thoughts-
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
The Nightmare That Was Real
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Bobby and St. John shared a glance when Daisuke returned with Rogue at his heels. For all that Daisuke was younger – he was looked after, rather then bullied. Largely this was because of Dark befriending most of the more vengeful misfits – but Daisuke had his own kind of charm that rubbed off on people.
There was that though it had taken a while for the students to understand that for all they shared a body – Dark was not Daisuke, and could keep a secret. With Daisuke's assurance that Dark was alright – merely having been startled, things returned to their regular pace.
A blushing Daisuke was yanked down to sit beside Kitty – and Rogue looked somewhat confused that he would instead of rejoin Bobby and St. John. St. John raised an eyebrow, as if that was proof enough. Bobby huffed slightly, and then nodded his agreement – before anyone noticed they'd whisked Rogue away from the organized chaos that was the kitchen.
"What the hell has gotten into you two?" Rogue demanded once in the hall – her eye were narrowed, her arms and legs crossed as she leaned against the wall. She could have been a poster child for "The Not Happy Teenager". Yet - having cornered her and that mornings 'incident' was still fresh in their minds – Bobby and St. John glared at one another to see which would first begin.
"Well – uh, you see – we wanted to make sure you understood that – um…" Bobby for all that he had 'broken' first – trailed off, looking helplessly to St. John. With a slightly frustrated sigh, St. John interrupted before Bobby could get himself smacked.
"Dark isn't Daisuke – they aren't even split personalities, they are two very different people who happen to share a body. We – uh, just wanted to make sure you knew that before you expected Daisuke to treat you the same as Dark does." St. John said, somewhat sheepishly, for Rogue looked about ready to roll her eyes, mutter 'duh!' – and stomp off as most girls St. John was familiar with were wont to do when needlessly singled out.
Rogue surprised him though, when she spoke and it wasn't a cussword or reprimand.
"Is that why Daisuke didn't acknowledge you two in favor of that girl?" She asked, sounding perfectly reasonable – Bobby nodded, his hand running through his hair. St. John noticed Rogue watch the movement and inwardly rolled his eyes – a reasonable girl – and like all the others, she had still fallen for Bobby before seeing him.
Not that he really cared – watching Dark out charm Bobby was amusing as hell.
"Yeah – we're Dark's friends – and while we'd stick up for Daisuke if he needed it – Kitty is his crush." Bobby murmured, his gaze amused, flicking to St. John, who grunted softly.
"St. John thinks it's because she's the only girl in the mansion who doesn't openly admire Dark." Bobby added when it became apparent that St. John wasn't interested in their idle chit-chat anymore.
When St. John meant to leave them in the hall to get some breakfast – Rogue again surprised him by following, Bobby though, kept her from talking to him, her attention as it was, strained with Bobby talking with her as they walked.
If St. John had indeed needed any more proof that Bobby liked Rogue in "that way" – the ice rose would have cleared things up – as it was, it was an annoyance – one he took some joy in outdoing. Bobby was pouting – he claimed it was glaring, but Bobby just didn't have the face to be that serious – while Rogue looked on, amused.
Together, St. John and Bobby managed to keep Rogue from thinking about the man in the basement of the mansion that they knew had come in with her. But, despite their best combined efforts, towards the end of the day, Rogue had grown distinct.
St. John would have thought less of her if she hadn't, but Bobby seemed particularly dismayed and by midday his lack of interest in what was happening around him – for all his attention was focused on Rogue – was noticeable even to their teachers.
It was a sign of how quickly things had gotten out of hand that St. John was bullied into asking Daisuke, at lunch, to 'summon' up Dark's attention and ask his advice. And while Dark seemed to know why – for Daisuke had let slip that Dark did not to indulge his curiosity where Rogue was concerned, Dark was still unwilling to share the secrets of his friends – even with Daisuke.
For a moment, St. John was grateful – Dark and Bobby had been his first true friends at the institute – and he would hate to think he could not trust Dark.
Bobby, though, was frustrated – he could see in his friends every movement - nothing he did seemed to get through to Rogue – and for all the enthusiasm he offered up for the lessons, Rogue opted more and more to sit at the back of the class.
All St. John knew to do was to follow Bobby around, offer encouragement – and rack his brain for something he would do to get Dark or Bobby out of a rut – he could think of nothing, for all too often it was one of the two of them pulling St. John out of his moody episodes.
He had never been on the receiving end of one – but now that he had, he was particularly glad he still had friends.
Then, after all that whirlwind of emotion – it was over in a moment.
It was a moment St. John would never forget, they'd been playing Foozball – and then a wild haired man walked into the lobby – Rogue spotted him right off and then there was hugging. Bobby, looking faintly disturbed – and St. John didn't have to ask to know why, the man Rogue was hugging had to be twice her age – in the least.
'Dad?' Bobby mouthed, glancing at them, St. John shook his head – it wasn't that type of connection. He didn't know what type of connection it was – hero worship, if Bobby was lucky – but as he watched, St. John saw Bobby frown. For the first time in all the time he had known Bobby – the other teen looked truly upset.
Then Rogue was dragging the man over to them, gesturing – though they could not hear her words over the sudden noise of conversation from the rest of the students in the lobby. It was a nervous noise – jittery, and most of the students about St. John's and Bobby's age were wary, readying for a fight.
St. John knew he had to defuse the situation before it worsened.
"Bobby – St. John, this is Wolverine. Later, Wolverine, you have to meet Dark…" Rogue continued on in this manner – not seeming to notice that Wolverine – where most would shake hands – had inhaled, his nostrils flaring. It left both boys with a sense that they had just been…sniffed, (which threw Bobby off, made St. John wish he was somewhere else) and passed some sort of initiation test; then came the hand shaking.
The wild-man who went by the name of Wolverine had way too strong a grip to be 'normal' – and St. John knew this personally having tested it - for all he looked it, the two relaxed when they realized that, like Rogue and themselves – this man was another mutant.
The rest of the day was spent showing Wolverine around the school – which neither of them minded, having nothing better to do until sundown – when Dark would show again.
Show Dark did, though Bobby likely would have preferred not to have been startled out of his wits by his sudden appearance from out of-no-where. But – as it was amusing for St. John to see – Dark didn't let Bobby start before he had.
"Let's go exploring." Dark declared with a somewhat cheesy grin, Bobby was glaring darkly at him.
"What are we? Ten?" Bobby grumbled, and St. John gave a weary grin.
"You sure scream like you are." Bobby grinned at him – but the sudden flash of teeth was anything but friendly. St. John was reminded of a dog, but kept the comparison to him self.
"Enough, children – how was Rogue's first day?" Dark asked, hands in his pockets as he went toward the kitchen. It was predictable – for whenever Dark was about, he was somehow hungry.
St. John thought it had something to do with the energy required to change his physical body twice or more a day – but it would sound far too geeky to speculate about with Bobby trying to nick St. John's dinner from his plate. For all that Bobby must have been better off in the 'real world' then he was – Bobby sure didn't act as if that were a fact.
"Well – she was worried about Wolverine though most of it." Bobby answered carelessly – as he poured cereal into a bowl, passing it to St. John when he was done.
"Who?" Dark asked, frowning – his eyes narrowed as he plucked a banana from the counter.
"That guy they brought in with Rogue – the one that's been in the basement since she came?" St. John elaborated, shrugging when Bobby looked somewhat surprised to hear him speak. Save when Dark was around, St. John mostly watched – it was one of the reasons he, Bobby, and Dark were such a great team.
"Oh – she knows him well then?" Dark inquired eyes downcast as his thoughts raced.
"Well enough to hug him." Bobby grumbled, 'pouting' at his food – St. John snorted.
"Aw, Bobby's jealous – isn't that cute Dark, his first real bite with love?" St. John teased mercilessly – Bobby snarled at him – and while doing so a fist filled with crushed cereal raised threatening.
"Bad, Bobby – you don't threaten your friends." St. John mocked – Bobby rolled his eyes, but let the cereal fall into the trash, guilt having caught up with his actions.
"Shut up, Johnny…" Bobby grumbled and St. John rolled his eyes, letting them fall on Dark, who looked to have ignored the whole scene. It was then that they knew that this was truly bothering Dark.
"It something the matter, man?" Bobby asked – wary, things were suddenly silent – and the air was stifling.
"Nah, only wondering who he is, is all." And what he wants with Rogue; it had remained unspoken – though the three of them knew each other well enough to know even the unspoken.
"Well, whoever he is – I'll say this about him," St. John began, and Dark looked up at him, his eyes curious at what his normally silent friend would say, "he smelled us before he shook hands." St. John tone was oddly insulted, and the three broke down laughing - St. John was glad he had been right – all Dark had needed to break the tension in his eyes was a little humor.
All of it was shattered with a scream – and yells for help. The three of them took off running toward the guest quarters – behind them they had a moment to hear the pounding of footsteps that were following them. Dark slipped on the slick surface of the tiles, his wings sprouting from his back to keep him balanced.
Dark got there first – flinging the door open wide, he did not pause inside the entrance – he kept going in, and Bobby and St. John followed him in.
"Oh, God…" One of them had spoken – neither Bobby nor St. John was sure which of them it had been later. What they saw – and smelt – was blood, thick red blood, was soaking Rogue's nightclothes. It was very obvious where they had come from - Rogue had been impaled by the knives that were coming out of Wolverine's knuckles. Wolverine looked at them – he looked as if he had seen a ghost – which Rogue looked to be turning into.
"What the hell happened?" Dark who was beside Rogue, demanded – he was being careful to touch only her clothes, his words past those first spoken were a blur of curses and half-hearted reassurances.
"I had a…nightmare; I think she was coming to check on me…" Wolverine offered up the whispered explanation, though he seemed reluctant to take his eyes from Rogue's crumpled form - Bobby and St. John had never felt more helpless then right at that moment. With the stain in Dark's eyes – he echoed their feelings.
"God-damn-it, we need a healer!" Dark screeched at the crowd that was gathering at the door, his eyes were fevered – he was struggling with himself – torn.
For all that Bobby and St. John had stood beside Wolverine; they could not have stopped him when he jerked into motion – grasping Rogue's smaller hand in his larger one. Dark cradled Rogue in his lap – remembering how Rogue had spoke of how quickly Wolverine healed. For the first time, he felt a moment of hope.
There was no reaction, and Wolverine let out a half-sob, sinking to his knees – between them they cradled her, touching her hair and shoulders - hoping to bring her back from death.
St. John was the one to notice when they suddenly stiffened – still as corpses – he jerked into action, unwilling to lose Dark – or for Rogue to have the burden of Wolverine's death upon her shoulders. Unceremoniously, he heaved her away from them, having gripped her nightgown. She was gasping – alive, healed.
It was more then he could say for Wolverine – or Dark, who, although conscious, he almost wished they weren't for how much they looked to be suffering from injuries years old having reopened afresh wash of blood dripping onto the floor.
The teachers took control then – shooing away the students - taking away Dark and Wolverine.
Bobby, St. John, and Rogue spent the rest of the night wide awake – gathered together in the boys room, the only words were Rogue's as she told them all she remembered of taking a part of Dark into her – in return, she told them of how she met Wolverine.
It seemed pathetic, even then – but all they hoped for – that everything turning out "alright" - clung to the words they shared that night.