FicWad

Crystal Drops and Hawks
Chapter Three

Alyda woke slowly, feeling as if every bone in her body had broken and been fused back together overnight. An alarm rang shrilly in the early morning, and Tara half fell out of bed in her haste to shut it up. Alyda sat up slowly, muscles screaming in protest. She gave a small moan. "Oh, I knew I'd be hurting today," she said quietly.

Tara looked over and blinked owlishly. "Better hurry," she advised her roommate. "Breakfast is at seven. We've only got fifteen minutes."

"Isn't it Saturday?" Alyda asked, gingerly climbing out of bed. She tentatively rolled her arms around, to try to loosen her tight muscles.

"Yeah, it is," Tara, replied, digging clothes from the closet. "Here, you can borrow these. I've got training in the danger room, plus just learning how to control my powers," she grimaced. "Rogue calls it Control 101."

"I'll probably practice flying," Alyda thought out loud, voice regretful. "Or it'll probably be more like practicing emergency landing, being as I still haven't gotten the hang of landing yet."

"Doesn't your back still hurt?"

"Yeah, but I've got to keep working. If I don't, I'll just stiffen up," Alyda swung her arms faster as her muscles warmed up and loosened. Her back throbbed painfully, but she knew that it was her arms she needed for flying. My back'll probably hurt for the next few weeks, anyway. I hope I didn't seriously hurt myself. She peeked at her back as she changed, and winced. It was mottled with black and blue bruises. What'll I do if I sprained a vertebrate or something? I can't stay here forever. She straightened her shirt, running her fingers through her short auburn hair to get the worst of the tangles out.

"Want me to straighten that for you?" Tara asked a pair of scissors in her hands. "You got it all uneven."

"Okay," Alyda turned around so that Tara could reach her hair with the scissors. She felt a stab of fear. Two-legger, behind me, cutting my hair! Okay, breathe. She's not going to hurt me. Be strong. Fear attracts the fearful. She didn't let her facial expressions change, controlling her breathing automatically. Wolves and other predators could smell fear.

"There," Tara handed Alyda a brush and began to drag a comb through her own curly dark hair. "What did you do, hack at it with a knife?"

"Yup."

Professor Xavier looked up as they entered the kitchen. He was seated at the end of a table, eating a bowl of cereal. "Good morning, Tara, Alyda," he greeted them with a smile. Tara grinned at him.

"Good morning," she grabbed two bowls and handed one to Alyda.

"Heyla," Alyda took the bowl with mumbled thanks. Something made her look up in time to see what looked like a blue, fuzzy elf, appear out of nowhere. She jumped backward with a slight hiss of fright as another girl walked through the wall to get to the kitchen. Where are all these two-leggers coming from?

"Here's some cereal," Tara shoved the box in front of Alyda's bowl, jerking her back to the present. "I'll get the milk."

Alyda looked down at the box. Cheerios, she thought. I haven't had those in a long time. She poured herself a bowlful and splashed milk over them. Sitting down, she looked up at Tara. "Forget something?" Tara asked with a smile, handing her a spoon.

"What? Oh," she looked at it, feeling the slight weight of the metal in her palm. "Yeah," she muttered, wrapping her fingers around the cool surface and feeling the way the grooves fit into her palm. Wow, it fits, she thought, opening her hand again to stare at it. Tara giggled.

"It's just a spoon," she dug into her own bowl of cheerios, eyes dancing happily. Alyda nodded, bending over her own breakfast.

"Tara, I'd like to see you and Alyda in my office after you are finished eating," the Professor informed them as he wheeled his bowl over to the sink.

Tara went pale as he wheeled out of the room, and let her spoon fall to her bowl with a clatter. She pushed it away from her. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"Eat," Alyda said gruffly as she shoved Tara's bowl back in front of her. "You'll be glad of it later. Don't go without breakfast."

Tara picked at her food as Alyda wolfed down the rest of hers. She carried her bowl to the sink, watching out of the corner of her eye as Tara dumped the rest of her cheerios in the garbage, but didn't make any comment. "Come on," Tara opened the door, almost bumping into Rogue and Jean. "Sorry," she skirted around them, Alyda trailing after her. "I hope we're not in too much trouble."

"For going out after dark? Would he even know?"

"The Professor knows everything that goes on in the school," Tara said, stomach plummeting. What if he decides I can't stay here anymore? I actually want to stay this time. She sighed heavily. At least I'll get to see Kari again.

"Ah well," Alyda took three steps to every one of Tara's, but still was able to walk evenly with her. "It was worth it."

Tara stopped to gape at Alyda. "Worth it?" she asked, her voice a squeak. "We might be in big trouble! What if he decides to..." her voice trailed off, but she had a sudden image of the Pruett's. They had been fond of capital punishment.

"If he hurts me, I'll leave," Alyda shrugged as she felt uneasiness stir within her. Oh, Tara, do you really mean he'll send you away just for going out at night? You've got to be kidding, he can't be that mean. Oh, darn these two-leggers - so unpredictable. "No big deal. I was going to head south anyway," she eyed Tara for a moment. "You could come too."

"I don't want to leave," Tara said, head drooping. "I was beginning to like it here."

Alyda felt a surge of sympathy. She awkwardly patted Tara's shoulder, although she nearly had to stand on her tiptoes to do it. "I'm sure he won't chuck you out of the nest," she assured her friend. "Not if you aren't ready to fly yet."

By now they were at the Professor's door. Tara swallowed hard, face still pale, and raised a hand to knock. "Enter," a voice called from behind the door before her hand touched the wood. Alyda raised an eyebrow. Weird. Tara didn't even knock.

Tara pressed her palms flat against the door, pushing it open. It moved soundlessly on well-oiled hinges, and swung shut just as quietly behind them. Professor Xavier was waiting behind his desk, resting his chin on steepled fingers. "What were you doing outside at 11:00 last night?"

"We were down by the river, sir," Tara answered nervously, shifting from foot to foot. Oh dear, please don't send me away! I'll be better, I promise!

Alyda eyed her friend and looked straight at the Professor. She stepped forward so that she was right beside Tara, who towered over her. "It was my idea," she informed the Professor. Tara looked down at her, startled, and Alyda sent her a look, which plainly said, "Keep your mouth shut." Do you really think that you can lie to the Professor? Tara wondered at Alyda.

"All the same, Tara, I would think you would want to keep inside after dark, what with a certain Mr. Wellington still at large."

Alyda seemed to grow for a moment, looking older than her own 14 years. "Nobody's going to hurt Tara while I'm around," she stated in a near growl. Nobody's hurting my wing-sib, she thought. If she had been a wolf, she would have been snarling.

"And how would that be?" Tara asked miserably. "Seems to me he'd probably just trample the both of us."

"I have my ways," Alyda remarked. For a moment she looked quite fierce. I'll take good care of you; she tried to tell Tara silently. I won't let any Wellington get to you.

"Just be more careful," Xavier told Tara.

"Yes, Professor."

"Go get changed for training. I need a word with Alyda." Alyda looked up at Professor Xavier as her stomach twisted slightly. I don't like this two-legger, she thought quietly. Maybe I should just head south anyway. I liked the ocean - maybe I'll go to Florida. Another thought occurred to her. Why stay in the U.S.? It's not like I need a passport. I wonder what the Caribbean is like. Or Africa? She felt the wandering blood in her stir, making her feel restless and itchy.

"While you are staying here for the winter, would you like to attend the local high school? I can enroll you if you would like to go."

Alyda frowned. High school? Go to where a whole bunch of two-legger children can gawk at me all day long? I think not. "No thank you," she said stiffly.

"I will ask Beast to teach you in the afternoons. It will help you after you leave," he informed her, and she nodded reluctantly. Teach me what? I did fine before.

Yeah, when you weren't forgetting who you were; part of her hissed back.

I'll remember, she replied silently, although she wasn't very confident.

"There are two training sessions a day, one in the morning before school and one after everyone gets home. You may join them if you wish."

"Okay," she shrugged. What kind of training? "What do you do?"

"The young mutants practice using their powers for good, so that they can be prepared to help others in case of an emergency. I probably don't have to warn you that most humans aren't ready to accept the fact that we exist."

She frowned, remembering how the two-leggers had chased her from her old nest. "No," she said quietly. "You don't."

"That is all," Professor Xavier steepled his hands again. "You may go." Alyda nodded to him and turned, pushing the door open just enough to allow her to slip through. She absently rubbed her side as she let it swing closed behind her.


Tara walked slowly out onto the surface of the swimming pool, holding tightly onto Jean's hand to keep her teacher out of the water. "Jean, I'm not sure I can do this," she said quietly, teeth gritted with the effort of keeping the surface of the water solid. Oh dear, what will she do if I drop her? She could almost feel her control over the water slipping from her grasp and clutched tighter. She looked up at Alyda hurtled past, dragon wings flapping furiously to try to keep steady.

"Mind on task, Tara," Jean rebuked gently. "And don't worry about dropping me. Just concentrate on keeping the water solid, okay?"

"Yes'm."

Alyda landed hard on the ground and began flapping her wings experimentally. Tara bit back a giggle as she heard Alyda's disgruntled mind voice echoing inside her head. (Darn wings. Why can't they be more like gryphon wings? Then I wouldn't fly into so many trees!) Tara eyed Jean, but Jean didn't appear to have heard anything. Must have imagined it, she decided.

A herd of geese flew by overhead, and Alyda felt something stir within her. Her head whipped up, following the geese's steady progress due south. Alyda took off again as a strong breeze rippled through. To keep from colliding with the nearest tree, Alyda quickly flipped into a Canadian goose and stabilized, landing safely on a tree branch. The instinct of wild birds to migrate hit her like a cannonball.

Tara looked up, shocked, as she saw Alyda hurtle by overhead. "Alyda, wait!" she yelled, releasing her hold on Jean and the water she'd been suspending around her. Jean used her telekinesis to keep herself from dropping. Alyda swerved around, diving back down to land beside the waters edge, transforming to human.

"Change of plans," she managed to gasp out. "I'm heading south after all. Bye."

"But, why?" Tara asked a feeling of hurt coursing through her. She's leaving me. Oh, why can't she stay? It would have been so nice, almost like having Kari back again.

"Um," Alyda's eyes wandered to the rapidly retreating geese. "Just because," she managed.

"Why can't you just stay for the winter?" Tara felt like her heart was breaking. Loneliness coursed through her. Alyda was one of the only friends she'd made at the academy. Kitty's nice, and Jean is too, but it's just not the same, she thought glumly. Rogue is - well, she's untouchable. You don't bug her and she won't bite your head off.

For a moment, Alyda seemed to hesitate. The geese traveling song faded from the air around her and she seemed to come back to herself. What was I doing? I was just about to fly south! "I am such an idiot!" she suddenly burst out. "It's the song!" The geese were singing! It's the flock-song to fly south - I've got to keep away from bird morphs. Joy, now I can't turn into a bird for the rest of the winter. She got up and began to run, into the woods.

"Wait! Alyda, are you leaving?"

"No!" her shout reverberated back to Tara as Alyda turned and raced along the edge of the woods toward the mansion.

"Yay!" Tara gave a shout of glee and fell back into the water with an immense splash.


Professor Xavier examined the girl who stood rather nervously in front of him. "I just...started flying. South," Alyda finished. All the strength seemed to have left her. She hurt so badly throughout her back and side, and the loss of her ability to transform into other creatures meant that she would be stuck, unable to travel anywhere for the next few months.

"But you did not get the sudden urge to fly south while in dragon shape?" the Professor asked.

"No," she answered miserably. "Luckily for me. I probably would have flown into the mansion wall again. I still haven't got my turns down yet."

Professor Xavier steepled his fingers - again. What is it with teachers and steepling their fingers? Alyda wondered. It's like every time I'm in here he's steepling his fingers! "When you transform into regular animals - birds, ducks, the like - you get their instincts, do you not?"

"Yeah. That's what makes mythical creatures so hard. I don't have their instincts."

"Then you should be fine while in the shape of mythical creatures. My offer still stands - with an exception. You can stay here, gain control over your gifts, and attend Bayville High School, if you so choose."

Alyda turned this over in her mind. What exception? "What's the catch?" she asked quietly. Her voice was almost a growl. He's going to dump something on me; I just know it. I'm going to be stuck here...

"I will help you control your gifts if - and only if - you go to school." He smiled gently at her, knowing he had her there. She couldn't refuse.

Alyda bristled. You should feel lucky that I'm not going to do what I want to and wring that shiny, bald head of yours right off your neck! She thought, eyes narrowing. I have nowhere else to go, and you know that! Trickster! Darn two-legger! She imagined how nice it would be to smack him with the flat of her palm, hard. "Fine," she snapped. "I'll stay." Her hands balled themselves into fists as she fought to keep her face straight. Her eyes burned with her fury. Idiotic grek'ka'shen!

"It could be that if you learned to shield your mind from that of the animals you transform into, you'll be able to morph other creatures without becoming overwhelmed again," Xavier gave her a kind smile, ignoring the fact that she was just about ready to snap him in half, she was so irked. "And I'm sure that Tara will be overjoyed that you have decided to stick around. I imagine you gave her quite a scare."

The girl in question was at the moment wringing water from her clothes, shivered in the cold autumn breeze. "Let's go inside," Jean called to her pupil. "You'll catch your death of cold if you don't get into some warm clothes."

"Okay," Tara wrapped a large towel around her self and hurried after Jean toward the mansion, apprehensively glancing up at her bedroom window, through which she could just barely make out Alyda's tiny form watching through the window. Oh, please let her stay, she pleaded.

She heard a chuckling mind voice in her head. (Don't worry, I'm staying. I've effectively gotten my feathers clipped.) Tara bit back a grin. She's staying! She exclaimed excitedly in her mind. Yay! She's staying, she's staying, she's staying! She repeated the two words over and over in a kind of joyful song. Oh, happy people!