This is a very ambitious first attempt at a bit of fan-fiction. Any
sort of input would be welcome. I have played a little fast and loose with
the x-men time-line, so please bear with me. This story is directly inspired
by the
Archetype Association, written by James R. Mcbriarty. I have borrowed
William Riley from his story; I hope that I do him justice. I have borrowed
a batch of mutants from the Marvel Universe (any X-men fan will recognize
them). I am not making any money off this so good luck suing. Melanie,
Erick, Larry, Gayle, Anna, and Gabriel are all my own creations. Emeralda's
personality is my own creation, but the character concept comes from a
Squaresoft game. If you like the way they are written, feel free to borrow
them for your own inspiration.
A Note to the Reader:Unchained Hearts has been approved as an alternate reality 'sequel' to The Archetype Association, breaking off from the 'main' timeline of my work just after the end of Movement Two, and taking place approximately five years later. The stories should be considered independent of one another; although I am sure that Mr. Rosnawski and I may play off one another as our respective works progress.
I was very pleased and entertained by Unchained Hearts. I hope you will be, too.
Jim R. McBriarty
Chapter Forty-Five
Gabriel took a deep breath as he entered the Danger Room. The holographic environment was disabled, leaving the environment a plain empty room. The room was about 2500 square feet with the roof being about thirty feet up. There was no place to run, no place to hide.
It was the perfect environment for Gayle to gain an advantage on him.
Gabriel saw Gayle about 20 feet up in the air... floating somehow. Gabriel took a defensive stance. He had left his blades in his room, at Scott's request.
He had no time to think about Gayle's new trick though as she suddenly appeared at his side, delivering a vicious kick to his kidney. When he tried to counter she was already gone, re-appearing on the other side of the room.
Gabriel smiled and nodded to her, acknowledging the well-timed hit. He began circling slowly, keeping his back to the wall. Gabriel expected her to wait for him to make the next move, but that was another mistake. She flashed to his left, distracting him enough to almost sweep his legs out from under him, and then teleporting away again before he had a chance to react.
Gayle's meeting with her father had changed her. If he didn't take things to her right away, it was only a matter of time before she succeeded in taking him down.
Larry watched the match with Will from the observation deck. Gabriel decided to go on the offensive as soon as Gayle teleported away from him for the second time. He charged ahead recklessly it seemed, but as soon as he saw her teleport, he quickly turned his body and let himself drop to the ground.
His hunch wasn't quite perfect, but he caught Gayle at the end of the kick because she had appeared a little to the right. Gayle stumbled backwards a few steps, but she recovered quickly, and was in the air again, before Gabriel could capitalize on the hit.
"She has really improved a lot," Will said, almost to himself. "I think that you kids did the right idea in helping her out. Look at her now, Larry. There is no hesitation at all there."
"Once she knew that her father's hatred wasn't somehow her fault, she finally got the peace of mind that she deserves Will. Look at Gabriel though... he's doing pretty well, seeing how we have stacked the odds against him."
It was true. Gabriel couldn't really go on the offensive against Gayle, but his smart tactics kept Gayle from taking the fight to him. He was impressed that she had actually forced him to resort to his energy blasts. He hoped that Larry didn't take it wrong.
Gabriel knew that he couldn't win. Gayle's new aggressive fighting style was beyond what he could deal with in the current situation. She was able to appear at his side, land a stinging shot, then be gone before he had a chance to turn in that direction. He had fought the best that he could, and all that he could do was fight a holding action against her. He had to do something... He had to change the rules.
"What is he doing," Larry asked in confusion. Gabriel was just standing there with his eyes closed. Will really didn't know the answer. He saw a subtle shifting in the energy that was always around Gabriel. This was interesting; it was the first time in their experience that Gabriel consciously tried to affect something using his inborn gift. Gayle was just standing there, overconfident.
When Gabriel opened his eyes, Gayle saw a glow fading from them. Her confidence faded a little and she became wary. Gabriel had a little smile on his face and he calmly walked forward, toward her. Gayle tried to teleport up in the air, like she had been before, but something was wrong, something was preventing her.
She began to feel panic. She had been able to move herself elsewhere from the time that she was six. It was her one way to avoid her father's anger. She could feel the power there; she could feel the shifting that was a part of her teleportation. She just didn't move anywhere.
Gabriel felt bad when he saw the panic in her eyes. He double-checked his discovery to make sure that what he had done wasn't permanent. Deprived of her powers, she was no match for him in a head to head confrontation. He quickly let go of his power, and he could feel her aura bounce back to its normal form. She too seemed to notice the change, and Gabriel could see her breathe a sigh of relief.
"That was an interesting trick Gabriel. Just what exactly did you do to her?"
"I'm not really sure Will. I just knew that I wanted to stop her from teleporting. When I thought about how I could do it, it just happened. I somehow knew that she wouldn't be able to teleport until I got her."
Will nodded. It was about what he expected. But none of them knew what a big leap it really was. Gabriel had finally done something consciously with his powers. It had taken him a few moments, probably because he wanted to make sure he wasn't going to hurt Gayle, but he had done it.
It was no small accomplishment either. They had tested Gayle's power extensively, and up until that moment, they had known of no way of preventing her from teleporting. But Gabriel had done it, without hurting her either.
Gayle seemed to be a little disappointed that she had lost to Gabriel again, so he decided to cheer her up.
"I'm proud of the two of you. Gayle, you have improved a lot. You actually had Gabriel until you got overconfident in the end. You have definitely gotten over your hesitancy to strike at a person. Gabriel, you didn't lose your composure when you realize how well things were stacked against you. You fought her the best you could and once you realized that you couldn't beat her the way things were, you changed the rules. I think that this test was a big success."
"Are you alright Gayle," Larry asked as Gabriel headed toward the kitchen. He wasn't exactly angry with Gabriel, but he didn't want him to hear his questions.
"I'm fine Larry. I was just surprised by what Gabriel had done... and I am a little peeved at myself for actually giving him the time to do it."
"Do what," Erick asked as he approached them from behind. He was scheduled for a solo test right after Gabriel and Gayle had their sparring match.
"Gabriel stopped me from teleporting," she said with a sigh. Erick gave a whistle and shook his head. He knew that it was the first time that had happened.
"He's getting really impressive. I hope that I don't have to face him anytime soon."
Gabriel found Melanie making some sandwiches. "Gabriel, it's been a while," she said happily as she put away the bread. "Join me, I made some extra sandwiches."
"Well I haven't said no to a beautiful girl yet and I ain't gonna start now. So what have you been doing since before Christmas?"
"Gone on a mission, nothing too challenging. So, how are things going with Monet?"
"Uhhh."
"Oooh, you're speechless this has to be good. Come on I've always wondered what Monet is really like on the inside. Share."
"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
"So you have kissed her, anything more?"
"I'm not going to tell you anything."
"We could always trip you and tickle it out of you," Anna said as she came out of the kitchen too.
"You are welcome to try girls, but I ain't telling you anything about how things are going between me and Monet."
"Why are you afraid that she would beat you up?"
"She's stronger then me, faster then me, and bullets bounce off her undeniably gorgeous body, what do you think?"
Gabriel was deep in thought. After he had eaten lunch with the girls, he had decided to take up his study of the history of the X-men again. He wandered back and forth through the timeline that was presented to him. But for some reason, he always came back to the Phoenix. Jean, Madeline, and Rachel, all of them had used some form of the Phoenix power.
From all that he could read, the Phoenix power was a dangerous tool at best that had the tendency to corrupt the people that it possessed. He couldn't understand why he was drawn to it. He did a search of the network, to try and find all of the files that were related to the Phoenix effect, and was surprised to find that there was Danger Room data concerning it.
Gabriel took a deep breath as he stood outside the empty Danger Room. He didn't know why, but he felt afraid of seeing this information. That didn't stop him from entering though.
Strangely enough, the room was empty when he first entered. There was a glowing square at the centre of the room though. When he stepped on the square, letters appeared all around him and began to circle him. The letters slowly moved slowly in the direction that he was facing, and arranged themselves into words.
There were four words in front of him, probably the categories under which the information was sorted. 'Chronological', 'Jean', 'Madeline', and 'Rachel' all floated before him. He decided to pick 'chronological', since none of the names grabbed his attention.
He slowly sorted through all of the incidents that involved the Phoenix power in any way. There was a surprising amount of grief for the X-men, particularly Scott and Jean in its history.
He was surprised when he realized that none of the information seemed to be hidden from him. It hadn't taken them long to trust him completely. It made him feel good inside, but he put aside those feeling until later. He was beginning to put something together.
There were three incidents that caught his attention. All three of them involved Rachel Summers, who supposedly was Scott and Jean's daughter from an alternate future. She had used her powers off and on while she was in this time. Each of them involved her travels through time. He couldn't understand why, but he just couldn't get these incidents out of his head.
He sat himself in a corner and began looking inward. What was it about these incidents that he just couldn't let go of?
The answer came to him in a flash. It was as if he had unlocked the memory by searching for them. He could feel memories flooding through his mind. The memories were confusing though; it was as though he had two sets of them.
On one side, he could remember being happy with parents who cared for him. On the other, he could remember living on the street, getting anything that he wanted. He could remember preschool and trips to the beach. He could also remember sitting in filth eating chocolate that people brought him until his stomach hurt.
It was confusing, almost maddening. But in a way, it was a relief. He had memories; he had experiences. He was real. It was something that he hadn't let himself think about since his last confrontation with his doppelganger, but he realized what a relief it was to have memories to unlock, to have a past that he could search for.
Jean felt the headache that she had come to associate with Gabriel's power. It wasn't the same though. For some reason, it felt different to her. The headache wasn't exactly painful; it just felt like her head was being filled too quickly with information.
She found Gabriel sitting in the corner in an empty Danger Room. Their holographic database of the Phoenix power was currently running and three items were highlighted. They were the times that Rachel Summers had moved through time.
She could hear Gabriel quietly sobbing in the corner. She slowly approached him and leaned down in front of him, worried about what might have affected him so deeply.
He looked up at her and there was a smile on his face, even though the tears continued to flow down his cheeks. "Did I lose control of myself," he asked quietly.
"Just a little bit," she said quietly as she looked around. There was no apparent damage to the Danger Room. A quick check of the file told her that the information wasn't corrupted. She breathed a sigh of relief as she asked Gabriel what had happened.
" I have memories," he said quietly. "They are confusing, they are incomplete, but I remember who I am."
Jean could remember all of Logan's searching for answers to his past. She had an idea how important such a discovery might be to Gabriel. "How much of your past do you remember," she asked.
"I remember about half of the memories that I am missing, and it feels like I have two sets of memories through most of it."
"Is there anything that you need to talk about?"
"No, I think that I'll just call Monet. She probably felt what happened, and I don't want her to worry."
"Well as long as you're alright."
Monet was busy at her meeting, but she let him know that she had appreciated the call. She knew that something big had happened for him, nothing bad just momentous. She let him know how happy she was for him with a mental caress before she hung up the phone.
Gabriel had been feeling tired after the battle with Gayle, but the discovery of memories had given him an energy that he hadn't expected. He wanted to do something.
"So he remembers some of his past. That is quite an accomplishment... how were things in the Danger Room?"
"There was no apparent damage to the room or the data. Gabriel was understandably emotional, but he kept control over it. He's had a big day today, hasn't he Will?"
"Very big Jean, I think that he is ready to be sent out on a mission unsupervised, don't you?"
"We'll see what comes up for him.
Melanie was surprised when Gabriel said he wanted to join them at the bar. When Monet wasn't around, he usually stuck to his room until she came back.
The others covered for her surprised though. She looked around at the group of them and realized something. Although Gabriel had a tendency to avoid much contact, he belonged with them.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow at their choice of cars. "A Viper and a Corvette... what's the occasion people?"
"Well Gabe, we were going to hit a club to celebrate a successful mission. Are you sure you wanna join us? Is Monet gonna get jealous?"
"Why Melanie, you are going to give her a reason to be jealous?"
He dropped the third of his thralls, and made the fourth walk toward him. He had thought that he had reached the limit of his power. He had thought that there was nothing more that he could do.
His other had taught him otherwise.
He had spent a long time hurting his favourite thrall, sharing his fascination with pain, when something new happened, something great.
It was ecstasy. He had his thrall on the cusp of life and death when he could feel something flowing into him. It gave him a feeling of power, a feeling of pleasure, the likes of which he had never know before. This was life, and he held, he didn't have to kill anymore. He could take a person's life.
He laughed when his fourth and final thrall fell to the ground, empty of the life that he had once held. That life still existed though, inside of him. He marvelled at how wasteful he had been, at how much he had missed out on.
He could feel their energy coursing through him, making him stronger, feeding him. Compared to this, all food tasted like ashes.
He turned his thoughts to his other. It had surprised him, but now he felt almost thankful for it's show of resistance. It had pushed him to learn something wondrous about himself.
He couldn't wait until they met again. He almost thought that he should thank it, before he eliminated it.
Authors Note: Ooooh, another confrontation with his doppelganger is coming up soon. I wonder what's going to happen;) Thanks to the people that have shown their appreciation for my work. Hopefully, I can work on it consistently, until I finish the story. And remember people; we authors love feedback!