Chapter 22: "Mature, my ass"

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"Hi." Ali didn't know if she could tell, but Raven had a few tears glistening off her eyes. "Having you been crying?"

"No!" Raven protested. "Can we go inside your room?" Ali nodded and opened the door.

"What's new?" Ali crossed her arms.

Raven walked in and flopped on her bed. "Everything is fucked up."

"I said what's new, but sure." Ali deadpanned. She took a seat next to Raven. "Why are you still blonde?"

"Because that's how people will accept me." Raven scoffed harshly. "When I'm normal."

"Where's this coming from?" Ali wrinkled her nose. Raven looked so happy and comfortable with her form, and now she looked like she was going to cry.

"Did your mom accept you for what you are? What you looked like?" Raven stayed in her blonde form.

"Well, yeah." Ali thought. "She was blind, so I don't think she could ever see us, but she seemed okay with my mutation. She was a mutant so it would be pretty hypocritical to reject me."

"Lucky bitch.' Raven spat. "Must be nice."

"What the hell, Raven? Ten minutes ago, you were all bubbly and comfy with your mutation. Now, you're just being bitchy."

"Have you ever been told by your only family, who is a mutant, and they won't even defend you from the world even if you're willing to do the same?" Raven laughed bitterly. "And by a person who thinks that the world will never find you beautiful without a disguise?"

Ali paused, trying to keep her anger down. "They don't deserve you, Raven." She swallowed. "If they can't accept you for who you are and what you want to be, then they don't deserve you." She finished firmly. "And if Charles and Hank can't see that, then they're fucking blind and I will hunt them down and-"

"Relax, no need to go that far." Raven rolled her eyes. "But it is nice to have someone tell me that I'm okay for who I am." Raven's scales slipped across her body, changing back to her natural form. 

"I'll always accept you for who you are. You did the same for me." Ali promised. "And this-" She gestured to her blue hand. "Is who you are."

"I kissed Erik." Raven replied briskly. "Is that okay, I mean you and I-"

"It's fine." Ali tried to sound nonchalant. "If you like him, then it's fine."

"Oh, okay." Raven sounded quiet. Ali frowned. Didn't she like him? Why was she disappointed?

"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't had a great night either." Ali opened a drawer, rummaging.

"What are you looking for?" Raven wrinkled her nose.

Ali smiled triumphantly. She held up a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Got it." She lit two cigarettes and handed one to Raven. "Your brother is a pain in the ass and won't let me get a drink."

"You're seventeen. You're not even legally allowed to drink." Raven scoffed good naturedly.

"I turn eighteen in like two months." Ali protested. "And I'm very mature."

"Mature, my ass." Raven scoffed. "You called Erik cotton face."

"He had a bunch of feathers on his face. It was meant to be." Ali defended, making Raven laugh.

"So what is this horrible night that you allegedly had?" Raven took a drag of the cigarette.

"Allegedly? Now who's been corrupted by Charles?" Ali smirked. "I had a bit of a crisis."

"Why?" Raven looked seriously. "Did Alex or Sean say something? Because I'll kick their-"

"Relax, no need to go that far." Ali deadpanned, making Raven laugh. "I had a panic attack." She admitted,

"What?" Raven straightened up. "Why? Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, I promise." Ali reassured. "Erik broke me out of it before it got too serious."

"What happened? This is serious. Charles-" Raven froze up.

"Charles gets them too?" Ali finished. "I had a weird cross between a support group and therapy appointment with him; I know about that."

"Oh, but seriously. You're not usually the same until a while after." Raven snapped. "You should go to Hank."

"I don't think I should do that. If I see Hank now, then I might punch him or use one of his invasive medical instruments to stab him or something." Ali frowned.

"Well, can you at least tell me what happened?" Raven tried.

"I thought about killing him." Ali spoke quietly. "Donald Pierce. He carved the word on my arm. I thought about it, and the voices in my head were telling me that if I killed him then I'd be a murderer, and then they told me that if I didn't kill him I'd be a coward, and then Erik told me to stop crying and that if I couldn't kill him, how would I fight the world, and I don't want this, Raven." Ali cried. "I want everything to stop screaming and I really want to die. I just wanna die and stop everyone from screaming at ME!" Ali collapsed sobbing.

Raven wrapped her arms, and pulled her in. Ali inhaled her scent, a faith smell of roses. "Oh Ali, I'm so sorry." Ali just buried her face on her shoulder and cried, letting herself truly go.

"I just want them to stop." Ali whimpered as she withdrew herself from Raven and wiped her eyes.

"Look, he killed your family. It's normal to want to kill him." Raven tried.

"Is it normal to have one half of your brain telling you it's not okay to kill and the other telling you it's okay to kill him?" Ali deadpanned.

"Look, the point is he killed your family. You're allowed to hate the guy and want him dead." Raven explained. "If you kill him, you would avenge your family and make sure no one else suffers like you did."

"I suppose." Ali admitted. It did make sense. What's stopping him from killing so many others?

"Just sleep on it." Raven added. "It'll be fine."

"I suppose we have to sleep. It's like one in the morning." Ali conceded. She pulled her covers over her. Surprisingly, Raven stayed. "What are you doing?"

"You had a panic attack." Raven replied stoically, "I'm not leaving you here. What if you get a another one?"

"So you're going to sleep with me? Thanks, Raven." Ali lightly chuckled at the innuendo.

Raven rolled her eyes, but still lay next to her, wrapping her arms around Ali. Ali relaxed and let the darkness pull her in.

                                                                                              *

She woke up the next morning with Raven shoving her. "Get up! It's time!"

"Five more minutes." Ali mumbled.

"Five more minutes and the world will die and shit." Raven rolled her eyes. Ali rubbed her eyes and brought herself up. The time had come. D-Day.

A/N: D-Day has arrived! Wow, this story is almost complete! I did not notice that! This last act is probably going to be the hardest part to write for me. I planned a story outline, so I have something to go off of, but this is seriously hard. And I am sooo going to have to drag my character through the dirt, and that's hard, okay?

She's my baby.. *sniffles

-Lonelyhuman out

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