We’re seated at a booth in a charming restaurant/bar. It’s got good environment, good people and good food.
Both Beast and Nightcrawler have their image inducers on, so we don’t get bothered by any anti-mutant people who might be around. I find that it’s hard getting used to their “human” faces.
I look around, grinning. “This’s a great place…I’m gonna have to remember it.”
Wolvie nods, taking a slug from his beer, “Yeah, sorry I couldn’t get ya here earlier.”
I shrug. “S’ok, Logan, you know how crazy life can ge….” I trail off, finding my eyes suddenly locked with those of a young man across the room; a young man looking exactly like the one in my dream.
He wears blue jeans and a dark green t-shirt, but I barely notice. His eyes hold mine too firmly. They seem to say, “Soon you and your friends will be mine, little flower.”
“HLM?” I hear, as if from a great distance. “Frauline? Are you well?”
Someone shakes my shoulder, breaking me from my trance. Blinking, I shake my head several times to clear it.
All of my friends are looking at me with concern, and Banshee was the one shaking my shoulder.
“Uh…yeah…I guess I just spaced out there for a second. Must be more tired than I thought…”
“If you wish to return to the mansion, we can. The Hideaway will still be here tomorrow, after all,” Storm speaks up.
I look back to where the mysterious man was sitting. He’s gone.
“No…no, I’m ok,” I smile. “I just need some food and then some sleep.”
They all look at me skeptically.
“What?” I do my best innocent look, which can be hard with these blasted shades on. “Would this face lie?”
There’s a unanimous and thundering “yes.”
I giggle. “Well, ok. Seriously though, I’m fine.
Just then, the food arrives. As we eat, there’s nothing but small talk. However, through the whole meal, I can’t keep my mind off of the mysterious man who held my eyes so effortlessly.
Once we get back to the mansion, Beast performs his vampiric duties and sends me to bed.
“I didn’t think there was any rest for the wicked,” I joke with him.
He grins at me. “The wicked? Of course not! The Moronic, however, is an completely different matter. Now go to bed before I hog tie you and put you there myself.”
“Oohh…kinky. Do we get to use whips, too?”
Beast just shakes his head and makes shooing motions with his hands.
I chuckle and head for my room.
Again, I’m wearing the lavender silk dress, and, when
I look down at my hands, I see that they’re covered with jewels.
This time, I’m not in the hallway, though. I’m in a
Roman-styled atrium.
I look round at all of the lovely flowers and wonder
where I am. I feel no need to leave, though. When I hear my name, I raise my
head to see who’s calling me.
I see the same raven haired young man from my other
dream.
I turn to greet him.
When he arrives, he wraps me in his arms. At that
moment, I know nothing of the life I live outside of the dream. He leans down,
and his lips meet mine.
For the first second of the kiss, I revel in the ecstasy
of it. I then start feeling something unpleasantly odd; a stirring inside my
mind and body.
Memories of what they did to me while Raph and I were in
the hands of the government force themselves to the surface of my mind as well
as all of those who died in my life.
My mom, her lovely face mutilated by the walls of her
home crashing down on her; the man who I inadvertently killed when my
manifestation power first came to life; the little mutant boy whose body I found
being dumped out of an FOH truck; and all of those I’ve been forced to kill in
the name of self-defense or the defense of others.
While these images ravage my mind, my body tells me that
my energy and powers are being sucked out of my through my mouth. The agony is
unbearable. I struggle like a wild thing to free myself from this monster’s
grip, but fail miserably; his grip is like steel.
When my body slackens against my will, I realize that
the fight is over. I lost.
Part
Three
Part Five
Mind Index