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

Gabriel was pacing his room nervously, trying to work up the nerve to head out to Monet's room. How did he get himself into these things, he wondered. He didn't know what made him more nervous, the fact that he was going to be rubbing elbows with the very rich, or the fact that he was going there with Monet.

He was so preoccupied that it took three knocks for Gabriel to notice that Monet was at his door. It was an interesting feeling, knowing exactly who was at his door. Gabriel took a deep breath to calm himself, and then he went to the door.

Monet blinked twice when Gabriel opened his door. She hadn't thought to arrange any formal wear for Gabriel, and was surprised to see that he had already found himself some. It was a simple, black double-breasted suit with black slacks and a blue tie. All in all, it was a good choice for a person of his size and colouring.

"Ah, you're ready, good. We just have to find Gayle and get her to teleport us to the garage." Monet smiled when Gabriel offered her his arm.

Gayle's room was quiet and decorated in subdued tones. But nothing in the room was as subdued as the mousy little woman that Monet was talking to. Gayle had been born into an abusive family, and the abuse had only gotten worse when her father had found out that she was a mutant. When she had found her way into the group, she had locked herself into her room for two and a half months, coming out only for meals or emergencies. Eventually, she had started to open up to the others, and she even joined the others at Harry's or went on the occasional shopping trip into town.

Out of all the people in the group, Gayle felt the most comfortable around Monet. She felt a kinship to her that she could not explain. She had first visited Monet a little over three months ago. Monet had been surprisingly kind with her, once she realized that Gayle was not putting on an act. She had mellowed out quite a bit around Gayle and considered her of her few true friends. They maintained a slight air of hostility around the others, at her request. There was a prankster hidden somewhere inside of Gayle's self doubt.

Monet's connection to Gabriel surprised Gayle just as much as it had everybody else. She knew how lonely Monet was, and she was happy to see her reaching to someone. "Of course I'll send you up to the garage," she answered, with more enthusiasm then she expected.

The teleportation was instantaneous. One minute, Gabriel was standing next to Monet in Gayle's room, the next they were in a garage that contained sixteen cars.

"When you said you all were rich, you weren't kidding," Gabriel said. Each of the cars were a luxury model that would run at least thirty thousand dollars.

"You have no idea Gabriel," Monet said as she walked around, looking at the cars. "This is a Dodge Viper!" Gabriel exclaimed as Monet opened the door.

"Yes it is," Monet said patiently. "I am going to know a lot of the people here, and most people there won't associate with anyone who drives anything less than an Accura."

"Yeah, I had an idea that the reason was something like that, I've just never seen most of these cars before. Wait a minute, do you run a business?"

"No, I let the board of directors make most of the decisions. I just control a majority of the stock. I inherited voting control when my father died."

Gabriel was quiet for most of the trip into town. With the mentioning of her father, sadness welled up in Monet that was so deep that he almost cried out in sympathy. He knew that her father was a part of the big secret that she was hiding.

Gabriel marvelled at the mansion that Monet pulled up to. The place was huge, probably as big as some government buildings that he had seen.

Monet handed the keys to a valet. When she turned to Gabriel, it suddenly struck him just how beautiful a woman Monet was. Her dark complexion was complemented by a sleek, low-cut purple dress slit half way up the thigh, and her black hair was brushed until it shone.

Monet gave herself a little smile when Gabriel noticed how she was dressed. She had been a little surprised with Gabriel's lack of reaction to her beauty since the moment they met. She didn't know whether to be miffed or impressed.

She knew that she looked good. From the time that she was thirteen, she had to fight for people to notice anything about her except her looks. She was ashamed that she had let the appreciation go to her head.

That had changed though after she had escaped her brother's trap. She had fought so hard for people to notice that she was intelligent, or skilful. She wanted people to see that there was more to her then beauty.

Balance came when she joined the new group. They were all patient with her, remarkably so considering the type of personality that she possessed. They treated her as an equal, no matter how waspish she became.

And then she met Gabriel. Gabriel appreciated everything about her; her strength, her intelligence, and her beauty. He was a one of a kind guy, she realized.

Gabriel pulled himself together and offered his arm to Monet. She accepted it with a small smile and they slowly walked in to the building.

The audience hall itself was larger than most homes. Gabriel looked around at all of the people dressed in suits and elegant gowns. He suddenly felt very out of place. Monet smiled a reassuring smile and whispered, " just be yourself."

Gabriel took a deep breath, and he tried to ignore all of the odd looks that he got. He was surrounded by some pretty shallow people, he realized almost immediately, just from the little bits of conversation that he overheard.

Some of it was whispered comments were about him, to his surprise. The nicest comments that he heard were that he was a business associate of Monet's. He just shook his head at some of the speculation that he heard and let it flow to the back of his mind.

Monet gave a larger smile when she noticed a couple approached them. "Cillia, Darryl, how good it is to see you." Gabriel could feel the sincerity through the link. "I would like to introduce you to a friend that I have made since we last met."

Monet introduced Gabriel to Cillia and Darryl Bains, co-owners in a booming string of gourmet restaurants. They had a friendly sort of intimacy between themselves that Gabriel could see was sorely lacking among most of the others there.

Monet watched as Gabriel talked with Darryl and Cillia. She had been afraid that he would clam up and become a wallflower, but he seemed to be comfortable in talking with the two of them. Her biggest surprise of the day though came when Cillia brought up a problem her stores were having with their computer systems. To their surprise, and Monet's as well, Gabriel started asking some astute questions, and gave them a possible solution to their problems.

class=SpellE> Cillia had organized the computer systems and was quite impressed with the knowledge that Gabriel demonstrated. "If you ever get tired of working for this money-grubber," she said in a joking manner, "we'll hire you to run our computer system."

"Oh, I don't work for her," Gabriel said with a smile, "we're... partners in a certain business."

Monet watched the two of them nod. If she had been alone, she would have laughed out loud. She knew that she had been wrong in doubting Gabriel.

She wondered again however when Allan Pangborn approached the four of them. Allan was from "old money" and he was sure to let everyone know it. His father owned a series of mines and was often abroad. Allan's days consisted of attending parties and making others feel small. He was one of those people who gave the rich a bad reputation.

"Cillia, Darryl and Monet," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and false emotion. "How good it is to see you."

"Allan," said Darryl, barely nodding his head. Cillia did not even give him that courtesy. Gabriel could feel something very close to hatred from Monet, but her face remained as calm as a stone. Gabriel followed her example and kept his thoughts to himself.

Allan frowned at the cold reception that he received, but his face was like mercury. "Who is this new friend that you have made? Allow me to introduce you to a friend of my own."

Allan called over a woman of nearly unearthly beauty. She had blond hair that was nearly white, unique violet eyes, and a body that women spent thousands of dollars to get through plastic surgery. She was dressed as all of the other people, although one could tell by the way that she walked that she enjoyed attracting attention. She flowed into Allan's arms like a cat. After giving him a deep kiss, she fixed each of them with a cold, haughty gaze.

Gabriel could feel something different about this person. She seemed to be more real, more there, then all of the other people. Monet seemed to notice that there was something different about this new arrival as well. Her eyes opened slightly wider and there was a sharp twinge of anger and fear from her.

Monet began thinking of ways that she could make Allan disappear. He had been a snake, a low-life for his entire adult life, but apparently, he had decided to sink even lower. Monet recognized the woman that accompanied him. Her name was Cybil Allison and she was a mutant telepath of significant skill. Telepaths were usually fairly decent people who hurt others as little as they possibly could. However, Cybil was as close to amoral as a person can be. She enjoyed inflicting pain.

Monet shielded Darryl and Cillia as best she could, but she found that she could not shield Gabriel. Cursing herself for having brought him here unprepared, Monet prayed that Cybil wasn't crazy enough to repeat Dark Beast's mistake.

Gabriel watched the two new arrivals closely. He could feel Monet's worry, and that set him on edge himself. Allan sneered at them all and at him in particular. Gabriel could the hatred for him reflected in the other's eyes. What the hell was going on here?

"Please, won't you join us," Allan said, gesturing grandly to a table. Cybil gave a little smile and nodded as well.

Monet wondered what the two of them were up to. She could tell that Allan wanted something from her. As he gestured toward the table, six people that Monet did not recognize turned towards them, forming a half-circle. Something was up.

Gabriel sat in the seat next to Monet. Monet kept her body calm, but her mind seemed to have reached a new level of awareness. He could feel anger toward Allan, but her watchfulness seemed to be reserved for his companion. Gabriel resolved to be ready for any signal that Monet would give.

Although he remained calm, Monet could feel Gabriel's readiness to act. For the first time, she realized that a link like the one they shared did have its advantages in a tactical situation. "Enough of this stalling," she said, in a voice as cold as she could make it. "Tell me what it is you want right now, or we'll leave Allan."

"Very well then, no more games. You are getting insider information somehow, Monet. I want to know what your source is."

So that's the deal, Monet thought to herself. He was going to try and blackmail her somehow. He had probably tried some espionage, to little effect. Monet wished she had been able to see his frustration at trying to hack into her systems, after she had let Forge install upgraded security measures. Giving that man frustration would have made her day.

Monet took one last look around to make sure she had all of his associates within her range. They were stupid and overconfident. Their threat was almost laughable, especially when she had Cybil to deal with. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She tagged the six of them mentally, using the trick that Will had taught them. "Allan, you are stupider than you look if you thought that I would ever tell you anything willingly."

For the next few seconds, Gabriel and Monet acted as one. As Allan got ready to explode, Monet flipped the table over. Gabriel pulled Darryl and Cillia down beside him. "Leave now before things get ugly," he said. The two of them seemed to hesitate for a moment, but they scurried out of the door ahead of the throng.

Gabriel watched Monet take on the six thugs. They were all equipped with tasers and they were smart enough to stay out of Monet's reach. Allan though was shocked by her actions, he obviously didn't know as much about her as he thought he did. Allan watched Cybil take her place just behind the goons. She had lost the smile on her face when Monet let go of her powers. They obviously knew each other better then he had expected, but he wasn't worried. Cybil was his trump card. He had paid her well.

Monet erected her psionic shield as she took stock of the situation. She was happy that Gabriel had directed Darryl and Cillia out the door, but she wished that he had followed them. Cybil's attacks were strong, but her psionic shields had no problem repelling them. She began using psionic energy to cut the circulation in the goons.

Allan froze in shock when Monet raised her shields. Of all the secrets that she had, being a mutant was the one that he had expected the least.

Gabriel watched Monet with amazement. For some reason, the taser charges could not touch her. Every time one of the thugs collapsed, Gabriel could feel something weird through the link. When one of the thugs collapsed near him, he came to a decision.

Monet felt the pressure on her shields ease as she put out the fourth thug. "Everybody stop," she heard Allan yell. When she turned to him, she saw that Gabriel had picked up a taser and had Allan in an arm lock, the taser at his neck. She had never seen Allan so afraid, even the night that she had showed him that she would not be pushed around. "Tell them to back off," Gabriel said in a voice that was so cold that it surprised her. Inside though, Gabriel seemed just as nervous as she was.

Gabriel began to breathe a little easier when he saw that they were doing as Allan had asked. He had snuck up on Allan so easily that he had suspected a trap. The last two thugs and the girl backed off, their attention now totally focussed on Gabriel. Monet was surprised by what he had done, but she said nothing. Then suddenly, for some reason that he could not explain, his attention was drawn to Allan's companion.

Monet could feel Cybil gathering her energy. She tried to shield Gabriel, but Cybil moved faster.

There was a stabbing pain in Gabriel's head for what seemed like a second. Once he came around, he looked around in awe.

The opulence of the hall was shattered. One of the chandeliers had fallen and the power cable was spewing sparks. The other one had simply shattered into a million pieces. Two television screens within the meeting hall had imploded, and fires were already starting within them. The furniture had been thrown outward, hitting the walls hard enough to shatter most of the smaller items.

The strangest part though was the people. They had obviously been dropped to the ground before the furniture had hit the wall. He had somehow protected the people from the effects of his power.

Monet came to just a moment after the phenomenon. She found that she could not put words exactly to what had happened. Cybil had launched a mental spear at Gabriel before Monet could deflect it. However, there is where the unexpected happened. Instead of penetrating his mind, the energy coalesced into an aura surrounding his body.

She lost consciousness just as the aura started to expand. She saw the energy begin to expand around him, taking on a shape remarkably similar to the first manifestation of his abilities. She came to so quickly that she caught sight of the furniture zooming over her head. She could feel the energy pass with the furniture. It was harmless and it faded into the atmosphere without causing any further damage.

Gabriel seemed to be physically unhurt. He had flinched and stumbled a bit, but he recovered quickly. He seemed to be as surprised as she was by what he had done. He spent a moment to look around, but stopped once he had noticed her.

"Mon ange," he said his voice cracking. "If I hurt you."

Gabriel was surprised by the amount of suspicion that Monet suddenly began to feel. "How did you know that," she said quietly.

Gabriel honestly did not know where he learned those words. He thought they were French, but he didn't even know that for sure.

Monet felt the suspicion drain from her. Gabriel seemed to be honestly confused by what he had said. Perhaps his exertion of power had let him see something in her mind. "What else did you see, Gabe," she asked, a lot calmer than she had been.

"Nothing Monet. I honestly don't know where that had come from. Is it French?"

Monet began to feel a little silly about her suspicions. She looked within herself, trying to see if she could find the courage to confide in him.

It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. She found herself talking, almost before she finished considering her options. "Gabriel, that was what my father used to call me, before, before he was killed."

This surprised Gabriel. Monet was revealing something deeply personal about herself. Perhaps she was willing to let him help her?

"Do you want to talk it?" Gabriel asked her in the most caring voice that she had ever heard him use. She could feel her heart swell at the sound of his voice. She had always hated sympathy, thinking it one of humanities worse lies.

But it wasn't a lie, not when Gabriel expressed it. She could feel his need to comfort her, to make things better. And it did. Just knowing that he was ready to lend support made her feel a lot stronger.

Something held her back though. She wanted to share her secrets with him, even though they hadn't even known each other for more then a couple of days, she wanted to get rid of all pretences with him, but she couldn't. She just couldn't find the strength to let go of the mask that she had worn for so long.

"I don't think that I'm ready for that," Monet told him so meekly that it wasn't like her at all. She looked away from him and he saw/felt such pain in her that he understood without asking. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. In that instant the emotions that each were experiencing became clear and vivid to the other.

Monet drew away from him, more from surprise then anything else. Her feelings became muted again; the old shields must have fallen back in place. Gabriel sighed and kept his disappointment to himself.

What Gabriel did not know was that this was the most progress that anyone had made with Monet since her sisters had sacrificed the body that they shared to give her back her own body. Her sisters were still stuck in the form of Penance. When the millennial discussions had taken place, Penance had disappeared into a forest. After many days of futile searching, Will had bought up the area and set it up as a wilderness preserve, hoping that Penance would be happy there.

"I'm alright now Gabriel," she said in a matter that was a little colder than she had intended. "Let's go home."