Fan Fiction ❯ Changing Patterns ❯ Darkness Closes ( Chapter 4 )

~Unwell~

All day staring at the ceiling
Making friends with shadows on my wall
All night hearing voices telling me
That I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on
Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown
And I don't know why

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
I know right now you can't tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see
A different side of me
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired
I know right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me
And how I used to be...me

I'm talking to myself in public
Dodging glances on the train
And I know, I know they've all been talking about me
I can hear them whisper
And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me
Out of all the hours thinking
Somehow I've lost my mind

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Ma gneto slowly opened his eyes. Searing pain shot through him so fast it left him dizzy. `Where am I?' He forced himself to sit up. The bed sheets rolled placidly off of him as he looked around. He was at his base, but the question was how? He turned his attention to the young woman sprawled out in an uncomfortable looking position in a chair. The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. `She'll feel that when she wakes up.'

He forced himself out of bed and thought about changing his clothes. He looked back at Airen and shook his head. If she awoke while he was doing that... Well, he could move her.... No. He'd wait for her to move her self.

Magneto stifled a groan as he limped out of the room towards the kitchen. There was only one more thing he needed to check on before he tried aspirin again. He opened the cupboard and stared at his reflection.

: Pain shot through him. Eternity laughed insanely. Briefly her heard, “Wouldn't it be better to have complete control over him before you rejuvenate his body?” :

Magneto found himself kneeling, holding his head as though to stop the memories that fled his mind. Gasping, he used the counter to stand up. He was shaking visibly.

“Ehem?” He glared as he looked at Airen. Her eyes were a deep shadowy gray. “I'm no doctor, but I know two things: One, you're not immortal no matter what you may think. Two, you should be resting.”

“And who asked you?” He growled in response. She grinned, and suddenly he wished he'd killed her when he had the chance.

“You may as well listen to me, Erik.” She paused as though startled at calling him by his first name. He certainly was. “You can't send me home because I can't get a feel for the outside world from your protective dome. The only way is for me to go outside, and then I'd surely know where the base is located. If I knew that when I went back to the X-Men, Xavier would learn of your location without me telling him.” He glared. “And if you think that you or someone else is just going to kill me or knock me out and leave me in an alleyway...” She drew her sword. “From my memory, I believe everyone who comes here to work for you is male?” She sliced at the air with her sword menacingly. “Do you know what `gelded' means?”

Magneto leaned back against the counter, holding his arms behind them to conceal his shaking. Not in fear of Airen of course. “So how can I get you to work for me?”

Airen sheathed her sword and said, “I don't work for people who work themselves to death.” She paused. “Besides in-world and off-world teleportation, I can speak a tongue which makes no sense even to me,” She wrinkled her nose at this, “I have a connection with electricity and so far untapped power.” She stared up at the ceiling as the lights flickered. “Hinse.” She hissed. The lights went back to normal.

`Maybe it's not a second language. She could just be crazy.' He closed his eyes and willed his body to quite shaking. It promptly ignored him. `I'm about eighteen, stuck in a kitchen with a deranged psychopath and I'm too weak to move. How could this be any better?' A knock sounded at the door as if in response to his thought. He `pulled' the door open.

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A iren frowned at Erik, `No, I'm not going on a first name basis with him.' As he opened the door with his power. Four people flooded in. The first one, `Remy, code name Gambit.' Watched her with interest as he pulled up a chair and sat down, his eyes intent. The second was a big Russian youth. `Peter, code name Colossus.' The third growled angry curses as he paced, trying to get warm. `John. Like my principal.' She grinned at this. `AKA, Pyro.' The final wiped the grin off of her mouth. She tensed and narrowed her eyes as she watched the one simple called `Sabertooth'.

“She new, boss?” Remy asked. Airen ignored his gaze, watching Sabertooth. He bared his fangs.

“Go ahead, fight her.” Magneto said confidently. “Don't kill him, though.” He added to Airen. Sabertooth grinned and advanced. Airen spread herself out as she stretched, watching him as he came closer.

`I'm too weak to move effectively. Plan B.' She thought as her body screamed in pain at the minor stretches.

She straightened and pointed a finger. The lights flickered eagerly. “Norsen.” The room and all other electrical appliances and outlets glowed before the power snapped through the room and enter twined around Airen. “Deste.” The lights went back to normal, as did everything else. Pyro's short hair was sticking out at all angles, and Sabertooth looked like a puffy fuzz-ball. Airen absorbed the power into her skin. “Your move.”

“Don't do it.” Pyro murmured. Unfortunately, the effort to stop Sabertooth's fueled his anger and frustration. He lunged. Airen smirked. Without a command, the power leapt from her pores and struck Sabertooth. Not enough to stop him, though.

The Acolytes winced each time the electricity struck Sabertooth. They winced a lot. `He's dumb.' Airen began to smell his hair and flesh char. “Deste.” She said again. Sabertooth lunged again. In a split second, adrenaline powered her body as she drew her sword and smacked his head with the broad side of her blade. Hard.

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A fter Colossus and Remy had dragged Sabertooth into his room and closed the door, Magneto explained her abilities to the extent of his knowledge.

“Well, if the boss hires you,” Airen snorted at this, “I'll show you around.” Remy winked.

“I don't date. And certainly I'm not interested in anything related to the subject.” Airen said firmly. Remy looked about to argue. “Do you know what `gelded' means?”

“It's what you do to males to...” Remy trailed of and Airen began to draw her sword. “It's been a long day. I'll see you in the morning.” He fled. Pyro and Colossus followed suite, wary of the vicious teen.

For the first time in a long while, Airen sat down in comfort. `That definitely could have been worse.' She thought to herself. Erik... `Magneto' She corrected herself again, sat down, still tired. She thought of something that had been bothering her since the little bout she'd had with Sabertooth.

“Magneto, what had your Acolytes so wound up?” She asked. Magneto closed his eyes and seemed so lost in thought that she became afraid that he'd fallen asleep.

“Eternity sent me a promising letter. If I found a mutant that could travel through dimensions he'd give me an `eternal youth'.” He sighed. “I must be getting old. Not too long ago, I never would have fallen for such an obvious trap.”

Airen watched as his eyes clouded for a second. He then closed then and shook his head as though to clear his mind. She frowned, feeling an impossible liking for the man that was a stranger and known killer. Along with that liking that she knew she shouldn't be harboring came a trust that she rarely felt. Confidant in people, yes. But trust? Never. And another feeling that made her stare at him. She was worried.

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Magneto found more images flashing in his head, long past and recently past images. Vaguely through it all he wondered if that meant he was about to die...

He barked a dry laugh at that, and opened his eyes. Airen looked at him, obviously startled. He gazed right back at her.

`She's not but a child.' He thought. `For all of her show, I doubt she's ever killed anyone before.' He looked away, shaking his head. His shoulder- length hair got in his face. He tried to brush it away but there was still too much static in the air, and his hair clung stubbornly to his face.

He heard a chuckle and glared at Airen. His headache came back right then. He growled and rubbed his temples, too tired to try to find his aspirin bottle. Airen mouthed, `Headache?' He simply gave a curt nod.

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Ai ren closed her eyes, thinking of all of the X-Men websites she'd been to and of the people she'd chatted with on the web. They'd agreed to one common thing about Magneto... For once, she was glad that she'd had a craze about the ideals of the X-Men books and show.

She muttered the word she'd decided meant `start' or something similar to it. A small amount of power trickled into her skin. She then held a hand up, towards Magneto's face and sent a spark at his temples. He attempted to evade what must have looked like an attack it, but her spark was determined and came back at him, hitting him in the head.

He relaxed quite visibly as the spark massaged the tense muscles in his head. Airen smiled in spite of herself. “I'll join you on one condition, Erik.”

She paused and gave a mental growl at slipping up again. “If you let me do a little experiment on you, I'll do, well, nearly anything you want me to do.” He looked back up at her, his eyes sharp.

“And what might this... `experiment' be?” His voice was thick with distrust. Airen gave a sigh.

“If you don't use your powers for a whole week.” She leaned back, waiting for him to take her head off, or at least try to. Nothing happened. She looked at him and saw his eyes were closed, deep in thought.

Finally he looked up. “As long as you stay here and do `nearly everything I say' I'll do this.” He paused. “How long are you planning on staying?”

Airen smiled in relief. “Either until you try to do something as dumb as running off of a cliff or until you say I can leave.”