When I was planning this chapter, I was crying laughing.

Year Two: Sacrifices

Outside of Edison Residence - 12:00 PM

"I didn't even say anything! Get back here!"

Keith knows that threats are okay. They mean that, at least for now, the assailant only considered following through. They're only words over actions … but this is Angela Rogers. Top Operations student with a broken heart who can sense bullshit like a Predator, capitalized.

So he calculated his odds in the second it took her to blink and made a run for it. He'll miss class but his life depends on it.

Daniel walks out of Edison just missing Angela. He watches her go, slowly to give him a chance, chase someone. Daniel stands on his tiptoes, trying to get a glimpse at whom it is. He almost has to adjust his glasses when he realizes that it's Keith … and when he sees that Keith is climbing a tree like a wild cat. Impressive.

But Daniel can't let this happen. Keith didn't do anything wrong that either of them know of.

Daniel can't believe he's about to do this. Thank Thor he didn't have a bag on him. He starts running after Angela, thanking Thor again that she wasn't going at top speed. He does the math in his head, draws the necessary graphs as he gets closer to her. Once at the starting point, he jumps in the air, launching himself forwards.

Daniel screams mid-air, feeling everything go into slow-motion once gravity plays its part. Angela slows down a bit, turning around right on time for him to crash into her. They both fall to the ground and that's when life returns to its normal speed in Daniel's eyes.

"Daniel!" Angela screams.

Daniel wonders why he didn't just yell Angela's name. She would've stopped. He also wonders why he got involved this way. Because how else do people solve their problems than throw other people into the trenches to give themselves an escape? He barely knows Keith but he's giving him more time to run away despite having already climbed a tree.

Angela tries to squirm away but Daniel keeps a grip on her. He knows that he won't win this battle. He's still not sure how he managed to jump her. Math never lets him down. Maybe he can get his second Ph.D. in it.

This won't work so Daniel will make the ultimate sacrifice.

He takes off his glasses with one hand and throws them off to the side. He's now blind and panicky, possibly ruined his glasses.

"Get off me!" Angela yells, trying to push him off but he's clinging onto her for dear life.

"I can't see!" Daniel screams, holding on to her like a wet cat. He didn't think he had this strength in him but maybe it came with the blindness.

"Let go of me and I'll get your glasses!"

"Don't leave me alone, I'm blind!"

-o-

Xavier didn't know what to expect when he found out Angela went to Edison to find James. He walked over once he was done with his class business and ended up seeing Angela trying to squirm away from a flailing Daniel who is on top of her and has lost his glasses. Xavier has no possible explanation for how this happened but it definitely isn't the weirdest thing he's seen from his friends.

Why are they like this? Xavier ignores them and notices that someone is hiding in the tree. He walks over and looks up from the bottom, seeing a peer with glasses up there. Xavier looks at him, looks back at Daniel and Angela, back up the tree and connects the dots.

It's still weird but he gets it. Still not the weirdest.

Xavier isn't sure whether to help Daniel and Angela or the kid in the tree. His friends will be fine. Tree boy won't. Xavier sees his bag on the ground by the tree and sees that his name is Keith.

"I don't need your help," Keith responds before Xavier could even ask.

Xavier puts up his hands and steps back. "I wasn't offering but suit yourself."

"You probably climbed trees all time time."

"I'm from Brooklyn. We don't climb trees." He smiles up at him. "Just out of curiosity, can you get down?"

"Yes." Keith narrows his eyes a little.

In all honestly, Keith can't get down. He still isn't sure how he got up here but he would rather die by crashing to the ground than be rescued by The Academy's white knight in shining armour. How does he look like a Disney prince?

Keith tries to reach for a branch, hesitant about everything at this point, including breathing.

"That will break when you latch on," Xavier tells him.

Keith isn't sure how Xavier knows that but his gut instinct pulls back his arm. He glances at Xavier who continues looking up at him with that smug Prince Charming smile. He should spit on him for laughs but his shot won't make it that far.

He tries to reach for another one right above him to the right, going slowly to see if Xavier has anything to say.

"You'll get yourself in a more challenging predicament."

"How so?"

"Aiming for that one will force yourself to stand since you're probably thinking you could just stand, turn around, and use those three branches behind you like stairs or monkey bars. The issue is that once you shift your body over, you're shifting your weight further away from the trunk, which is the sturdiest part of the tree, and onto the ends of the branch. There's already less support on the branch you're currently sitting on now so it'll be more prone to breaking, especially if your reflexes aren't fast enough to catch the branch you want."

Keith didn't think Xavier knew that many words, let alone dendrology concepts and weight displacement. Wow, the Rogers twins were really putting him on the edge of his seat … or branch, in this case.

Now he's wondering if he should go for it.

"If I were you," Xavier continues, "I would just jump to the ground."

Keith isn't sure he heard that right. " … excuse me?"

"You're not that far from the ground."

"Not all of us are Operations machines."

Xavier shrugs. "No, we're not."

"I'll break my legs." Maybe Xavier wants to watch that.

"You're being dramatic. You'll land on dirt or even on me."

Keith isn't sure which is worse: having to do laundry or being caught by Xavier Rogers. This has to be the worst day of his life and he's had so many bad days. Get threatened and chased by one Rogers twin and taunted by another. Only this would happen to him. He blames James.

Ah, fuck it. If this is already a bad day, he might as well drown his wounds in salt.

Keith makes the jump. His life flashes before his eyes on the way down. There was nothing much to see. He didn't notice that Xavier quickly caught him and he was put on the ground nicely to make it looks like he just fell in the dirt. When Keith comes back, he stands up, brushes off the dirt, and sees Xavier being proud of him. He doesn't care enough to make a belittling comment.

Keith looks back at where he saw Angela coming from. To his surprise, he sees Angela on the ground and a glasses-less Daniel holding on to her. As someone who is dependant on his glasses and knows that Daniel would never stand a chance against Angela Rogers, this gesture hits different. He didn't think anyone would ever do anything like that for him, let alone Daniel Banner.

"I can't believe Daniel did that," Keith says.

"Same," Xavier responds. How has Angela not escaped that yet?

"Anyways, your sister is feral so I'll be on my way."

Before Xavier could comment, Keith makes a run for it. Xavier watches him go, noting how fast that spry body is. Maybe he could've made the branch if he went for it. Since that problem's out of the way, Xavier heads towards Angela and Daniel.

He picks up Daniel's glasses, blowing off all the dirt. When he's standing beside them, he grabs Daniel by the collar of his shirt and lifts him on his feet. Since Daniel can't see and has no idea who was there, he yells and starts throwing fists.

"It's me!" Xavier yells, handing him his glasses.

"Oh…" Daniel mutters, putting on his shades. He looks like he would cry now that his sight is back.

"Where did he go?!" Angela yells, referring to Keith, once she's back on her feet.

Xavier points in a completely different direction.