Chapter Sixteen: Sweet Dreams and Beautiful Nightmares
A/N: Okay, another update! I did my best, but let me know if anything is inaccurate :)
It was Danni's turn for 'Power Day', as it had become known to the young mutants. She was nervous about it and Tobi couldn't blame her. The chance to take a look inside yourself and see all of the flaws was not a welcome one. Therefore, no one dared to make any attempts at humour, not even Sean.
"Do you think you could demonstrate your power for us, Danni?" Charles asked quietly.
The dark-haired girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking rather uncomfortable. Powers were nothing to be taken lightly and although none of them really knew the extent of Danni's, everyone sat with their shoulders tensed at the thought of dreams and nightmares colliding.
"I'm not exactly sure that's the best idea…" she murmured a little uncertainly, "My power can do strange things to people."
Charles inclined his head. "I understand. You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm quite sure that everyone in this room is prepared to deal with whatever you dish out. We're all adults here – well, apart from Tobi, and even she will be in not long."
Tobi rolled her eyes at Charles's attempt at humour, but she indulged him with a small smile. Danni was glancing around at the others, searching for approval. Sean and Hank were nodded and Alex, although his jaw was clenched, just shrugged.
"Whatever. Let's do this."
Danni got up off the couch, her dark eyes grim. Her small hands were balled into fists and her eyes fluttered shut. It wasn't until Danni's breathing had evened and her eyes flickered back open that all hell broke loose. Sean rolled off the couch, crashing into a lamp and thudding heavily to the ground. He curled up in a ball and his freckled face was contorted in pain as he pressed his hands over his ears, as if whatever he was hearing, he could shut out.
Charles rocked forward in his chair, clutching at the handles, his blue eyes brighter than ever. He could see feel the bullet entering his spine all over again, feel the pain of Erik and Raven's betrayal as they turned their backs on him, as they left him without stopping to find out what might happen to him…
While everyone else seemed to be trapped in the realm of nightmares, what Hank experienced was different completely. He saw Raven, blonde and smiling, holding out her hand to him, begging him to join her. Her smile was tempting, as were the promises she whispered in his ear…Tobi stumbled and fell to her knees as she relived every bruise, every cut the other thieves like Digit and Bishop had inflicted on her. Then, there had been no physical pain…yet as Bishop held up the knife, its blade glinting as brightly as his eyes, she remembered how afraid she'd been.
"NO!"
Despite what everyone else was enduring at the mercy of Danni's power, it was Alex who suffered the most. Through the haze of the pain of her past, Tobi glanced across at him, his green eyes widening. He was reaching out for someone who wasn't there, his expression one of anguish. She thought she knew what he was going through.
Oh, no…Alex…
"SHAE! NO, SHAE!"
Tobi fought the nightmares of her own, because suddenly, they didn't matter. She could remember now that Bishop and Digit weren't real. All that mattered was the agony Alex was enduring and she staggered towards him as he pressed his face into his hands, devastated.
"Alex. Alex!"
He was just across the room. It was the stupidest thing. Tobi walked slowly across to him, knowing what he was going through. Perhaps her power could counter Danni's. She placed her hand on Alex's arm, but the moment her fingers made contact with his skin, his fist flew out and slammed her in the face.
"NOT SHAE! ANYTHING BUT THAT!"
It was driving him insane. Not Danni's power, but the might of his grief and guilt. Tobi pressed a shaking hand to her cheek, where she could still feel the force of Alex's punch. He'd hit her. Alex had hit her.
"Stop it!" Tobi found herself screaming, wondering if anyone could hear her over their own agonies and temptations, "Stop, just stop it!"
Then it was over and Danni observed the devastation of her power with wide, horrified eyes. Sean was still on the ground – but it was Alex who now stomped towards her with cold fury in his blue eyes.
"You," he snarled at her, hatred filling the syllable, "You made me remember it. You made me relive what I did to Shae!"
Tobi was scared, because right now she didn't know what Alex was capable of. He was marching towards Danni, who looked so like a scared rabbit, like she hadn't known her power would cause so much pain. Tobi sped across the room like a blur, throwing herself between Alex and Danni. If he really wanted to hurt Danni that much, he'd have to go through Tobi first.
"That's enough, Alex." Tobi's voice was full of steel.
Alex suddenly snapped back into reality. He saw Tobi in front of him, her green eyes burning with an anger he hadn't seen for some time. Then he saw the red mark across her cheek where he'd hit her and immediately the guilt weighed down in his stomach like a tonne of bricks.
"Tobi…" he muttered, reaching out as if to touch the raw mark on her face. Her eyes flashed and she gripped his wrist, squeezing tighter and tighter until he thought she intended to break his hand.
"If you weren't ready for it, you shouldn't have stayed," Tobi threw the words at him like they were poison. "Don't blame Danni. You stayed. It doesn't make you any less a man if you had chosen to sit it out."
"I'm so sorry," Danni said for about the millionth time as she applied an ice-pack to Tobi's bruised cheek. "If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have hit you…I really need to learn to control my power. It's so…wild. That's why I came here. I have no idea how to direct it."
"It's fine." Tobi waved a hand. In all honesty, her high pain threshold meant that she hadn't even really noticed. "I've suffered worse, trust me. But right now, I think a long hot shower would make me feel a lot better."
Danni nodded understandingly and watched as Tobi exited the dimly-lit kitchen with the ice-pack still pressed to her cheek. After a moment, her dark eyes darted towards the corridor.
"You can come out now."
Hank and Sean skulked out of the shadows, followed by Alex, who still refused to meet Danni's eyes. After how he'd injured Tobi and he'd threatened Danni with violence, he wasn't exactly feeling in a very happy mood right now.
"So, Hank, you said that it's Tobi's birthday tomorrow. Her eighteenth, is that right?"
Hank nodded. Sean and Alex exchanged baffled glances. They'd completely forgotten that Tobi was turning eighteen tomorrow. Danni smiled as she glanced across at them all.
"Okay, here's the deal. I don't really know any of you that well and I haven't been here for that long, but I like Tobi. I think she's cool. So I vote we throw her a surprise party. You know, dancing, music, a few drinks…"
"Really?" Alex folded his arms, a frown crossing his face. "I don't see Charles letting that happen."
Hank pressed his lips together in a firm line, as if he was struggling to admit the truth.
"Well…Charles is going out tomorrow evening. He's having a bit of trouble establishing the finer details of the Academy, such as…"
Sean nodded, holding up his hands in surrender. "Yeah, we get it, Beast. He's not going to be here. Thanks for the heads up."
Hank, torn between feeling guilt at informing the others about Charles and satisfaction at being included at last, shrugged. "You're welcome. So, it's just going to be the five of us, then?"
Danni smiled crookedly. "Unless you guys have any friends outside you want to invite?"
The boys exchanged glances and Danni retained a rather tactful silence, not choosing to mention that outside of the Academy, all of them were considered freaks. The only friends they had were each other.
"Where exactly are you taking me?" Tobi asked, feeling rather concerned. She had been blindfolded and convinced by Danni, who was now steering her by the shoulders, to just go with the flow. She had thought the others had forgotten that it was eighteenth birthday – with the exception of Charles, who had wished her a quick happy birthday and promised her a present upon his return from his meeting.
"You'll see." Danni's tone was somewhat amused as Tobi took one blind step forward at a time, careful not to trip. "Okay. Just stand still. Stay right where you are, and…you can take the blindfold off now."
A soft breeze whispered over Tobi's hair as she yanked the blindfold from her head…and there stood Danni and the boys, who all immediately yelled: "Surprise!"
For a moment, all Tobi could do was stand there and grin, shaking her head slowly.
"I swear, you're all idiots. You made me think you'd forgotten!"
"That's the point of a surprise party," Sean reminded her, stepping forward and waving a small box around in his hands with a goofy grin. "It's your present. Do you want it?"
Tobi snatched at it, green eyes gleaming. "Gimme."
Sean watched, twisting his hands together rather nervously, as Tobi tore at the wrapping and opened the cardboard box, which she held up to her ear and shook carefully. There was a clinking, jingling sound inside and Tobi's eyes widened as she clawed at the box.
"No…freaking…way…"
Sean grinned at her enthusiasm and Tobi's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she held up the keys to Charles's Cadillac. Immediately, she dropped the box and threw her arms around Sean, who laughed uneasily.
"Whoa…hey, calm down. It's actually from Charles, that one. He just wanted me to give it to you. You see, there are a couple of other nice cars that Alex and I have called shotgun on…"
Tobi didn't care. She thought it was incredibly nice of Charles to give her the Cadillac, considering that he wouldn't be needing to drive it in the future. She felt rather guilty now, for reasons she couldn't explain.
"This one's from me," Sean said, ruffling Tobi's hair and handing her a seashell necklace, "Here you go, kiddo. A little taste of the coast, huh?"
Tobi wasn't really a jewellery person, but there was no denying that the necklace was nice. She brushed back her bronze hair and fastened the clasp, nodding her approval.
"It's nice. Cheers, Sean."
Danni stepped forward next, her eyes glittering with mischief as she pressed a soft package into Tobi's hands. The younger girl glanced at her warily, wondering what was in it.
"This had better not be anything kinky…"
Danni shrugged. "I had some help from Sean. Don't kill him, it's nothing that bad."
Tobi's eyes narrowed with suspicion as she unwrapped the parcel carefully, then rolled her eyes and aimed a half-hearted smack at Sean, who of course easily dodged, grinning like an idiot as Tobi held up a red-and-black lacy bra and brief set.
"Come on, Tobi," Danni was smiling too, "Every girl needs a sexy underwear set to flaunt."
Tobi snorted. "Flaunt when? When I'm prancing down the hall after my shower or something? Really nice, Danni, but…I'm guessing this was Sean's idea."
Sean just winked. "I hope it fits."
Hank's gift was rather more conventional – a bottle of Chardonnay. Tobi smiled and again conveyed her thanks. Alex was shifting uncomfortably with his hands in his pockets and Tobi wondered, with a rather selfish disappointment, whether he'd forgotten.
"Uh…I kind of wanted to give you your present later. Is that okay?"
Tobi nodded, but this comment from Alex resulted in much loud hooting (coming from Sean) and a little wolf-whistle from Danni. Tobi couldn't help but grin, and Alex was desperately trying to look annoyed.
"Hey, shut up!"
Two hours later and the party was in full swing. Sean had managed to find Raven's hidden alcohol stash – no one knew how quite yet – and it was lucky that Charles's estate was so large that any neighbours wouldn't be complaining about the loud music. A couple of dozen raunchy songs and a few drinks later, everyone was in the mood to party…even Hank. Danni was laughing raucously and didn't seem to have a problem with how close Sean's hands were to her ass as they were dancing. In fact, the next moment, his lips were locked onto hers and from what Tobi could tell, they were kissing quite ferociously.
Alex nudged her, jerking his head towards the lip-locked couple. "They were mocking us not long ago. I'm never going to let them live this down."
Tobi was too busy bobbing her head in time with the music. She swayed along to the beat, flicking her bronze hair from side to side and in crazy circles. A slightly slower but possibly raunchier song came on and Tobi smiled, taking Alex's hands and yanking him towards her.
"Come on, come on. I like this one."
Just when Alex was beginning to think dancing couldn't get any dirtier, Tobi wrapped slid her hands up his biceps and then down his chest, teasingly slowly. He could smell the alcohol on her breath, but right now, his mind was too muddled to care…and not because of any alcohol. Tobi was swaying her hips from side to side, before she stood up on her toes and kissed Alex on the lips.
"So what's my present, Havok?" Tobi murmured as she continued sashaying to the music, her green eyes smoldering as they bored into his blue ones. All of a sudden, Alex realized that Tobi wasn't as drunk as she was acting, and he couldn't concentrate on an answer to her question because he was trying not to think about how turned on he was by her.
"Whatever you want," Alex replied almost deliriously, caught up in everything that was Tobi. His hands were planted on her hips and she bit her lip rather endearingly, before she crashed her lips into his, her fingers lacing through his blond hair, pulling him closer.
To Alex, Tobi was addictive. She was like a drug he couldn't get enough of. Sure, it wasn't like there hadn't been other girls…but Tobi was different. This was different. Tobi's green eyes burned with all the emotions he felt – mischief, love, lust. If this was wrong, Alex didn't want to be right.
"I want you," Tobi whispered in Alex's ear, making his restraint snap like an elastic band. His kisses grew more daring, fluttering down her neck and across her shoulders.
In an ecstasy of passion, Alex took her hands in his. He didn't think he'd ever wanted anything more than her and now that he knew she definitely wanted him back…he pressed a kiss at the nape of her neck and led her away from where Sean and Danni were giggling like hysterical children.
"Come with me."
Charles never outwardly expressed his anger. Despite the bottles of alcohol that littered the ground outside and the mess the teenagers had made of his patio, he still showed no physical signs of fury. Instead, he simply called them into the kitchen after having got two of the servants to clean up the mess. Danni, Hank and Sean had already filed into the kitchen, but Alex and Tobi still had not yet arrived. Charles frowned, starting to feel even madder. Did they not take him seriously?
"Where are Alex and Tobi?" he demanded.
Sean scratched at his thick mop of hair uncomfortably, his freckled face turning somewhat red.
"Uh, well, I think they were trying to be subtle, but they did make a lot of noise…"
Danni turned to stare incredulously at Sean. Was he implying what she thought? When Sean cleared his throat, appearing incredibly embarrassed, she knew that he wasn't kidding.
"Alex and Tobi…slept together?" Charles sounded more shocked than anything else, but his blue eyes were hard.
At that moment, the pair stumbled into the kitchen, quickly unclasping hands when they realized that they weren't alone. Alex looked incredibly guilty and Tobi just stared around at everyone, her bronze hair wild and her eyes way too bright.
"Umm…what's going on?"
Charles turned his serious gaze upon her. "I might ask you the same question. Tell me, please Tobi, whose room did you sleep in last night?"
Tobi found herself speechless. She had the feeling that she and Alex were in seriously deep shit right now. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire and she looked at the floor, unwilling to state the obvious answer.
"Have I not taken care of you?" Charles asked sharply, his voice rising as he addressed all five of the guilty-looking teenagers, "Have I not offered you sanctuary, to teach you how to use your powers? I gave you trust and safety, and how have you repaid me?"
None of the teenagers dared to speak. Charles wheeled forward to face all of them.
"This is my home. If you are going to exhibit the same sort of behaviour as last night, then I'm afraid you can't live here. I have never asked you for anything in return for my hospitality, but as your teacher, I now ask this of you: show my property the same respect you would anyone else's home. This sort of incident is unacceptable. Do I make myself clear?"
For a few more moments, there was only guilt-ridden silence. Licking her lips and summoning all her courage, Tobi stepped forward.
"I think I speak for all of us when I say we've behaved stupidly," she mumbled, before she raised her voice and looked directly across at Charles, "We're all really sorry. I promise it won't happen again."