#lysander-dawne

Lysander’s day was a quiet one, Classes went smoothly and it seemed as though he was coming on leaps and bounds with his artistic side. There was still a hole that only music could fill though and he repeatedly found himself returning to the Ballroom where he’d first made friends with Marie and Eva. The piano stood stoic and strong beneath him as he meandered through the scores of sheet music that lined the bookshelves of the balcony, his fingertips brushing lightly against the pages as he hummed his own little tune. He’d promised a song to Marie the last time he was here and there was a part of him that wanted to go all out for her. Pulling out a few books and taking them over to the large windowsill, Lysander opened the first, an anthology of the Beatles greatest hits and read through how he could play and sing it considering that he never really championed his vocal skills. Placing his earphones in and utilizing the institutes WiFi, Lysander fired up YouTube and listened to “Blackbird” singing a few licks and testing out his ability. As his confidence grew he sang out, his voice echoing over the music playing in his ears. “Finding a song was easier than I thought.” Lysander mumbled to himself, gathering the sheet music in his arms and spinning from the window. He barely even registered the girl stood at the top of the stairs glaring at him until he’d put most of the music away, she was talking he could see that but the music in his ears was drowning her out. “Hey!” He called with a smile, not taking into account the volume of his voice. “Sorry.” With a practiced motion Lysander pulled the earbuds out and his head swam instantly and his body grew heavier than it had ever felt. For a moment Lysander wondered whether the balcony would support such weight, for the first time since his powers had manifested he was genuinely worried about his own safety. His heavy limbs were moving of their own accord as the girl with the raven hair continued to sing her own song, an aria of malice and control. Lysander’s feet were on top of the balustrade that ran around the edge of the balcony as the entrance doors to the lower levels burst open and people poured in below them, he couldn’t concentrate though, his thoughts were too muddled under the strange woman’s power. The only thing that Lysander could concentrate on was the words to the song he’d been singing moments ago. Take these broken wings and learn to fly.

Warren had been powering down the machinery in most of the infirmary’s rooms to their stand-by modes when he’d heard it, or rather, him--Professor Xavier’s voice echoing closely within the walls of his mind with the urgent warning of the Brotherhood’s invasion; that Magneto had tripped portions of security and Mystique would be headed for Cerebro. He and, without a doubt his colleagues, were instructed to get all of the students to safety immediately. Only half of the machines had been powered down when he abandoned his tablet and took off on foot from the school’s hospital wing. He decided to check with the rooms nearest the infirmary, starting with the theatre lounge. To his relief, the room was completely evacuated already and though he’d heard commotion elsewhere on the ground floor, he’d stuck to his plans of checking the neighboring rooms and feet carry him back down and around the hall to the ballroom. As he neared he heard a sweet voice that jilted the urgency of his strides. His eyes rolled shut as he found himself compelled to turn around and walk away, but he snapped out of the crooning influence with a violent shake of his head and almost immediately locked eyes with a familiar foe--Mastermind. He crouched low only to launch himself across the room, his wings carrying him at high speed toward the short male. Mastermind simply smiled at him before the entire room seemed to explode with flames. Angel came to an abrupt stop that caused him to stumble and lose balance. He contracted his pearl white feathers as close to his body as possible while regaining his footing and began retreating toward the door; all the while his crystal blue orbs were darting around the flames. Although he couldn’t feel the heat around him and he’d been familiar with Mastermind’s powers, the large flames licking up the ballroom’s walls appeared real enough to distort his focus. He wasn’t one for cursing but as he instinctively raised his forearms in an “X” in front of his face, he swore under his breath and continued backing toward the ballroom’s entrance.

It hadn't taken long for Cessily to discover where her dorm was situated in relation to the other rooms of the great mansion, she had found out the hard way too, through the noise! It seemed her bad luck had continued and she had been placed right above the ballroom, which contained that God awful piano that people just didn't seem to be able to leave alone. What made the piano even worse was the singing, the bad singing. Cessily herself was partial to a good karaoke, and she wasn’t great at singing but she could hold a note, why did people who couldn’t always insist on singing the loudest? The voice she heard today was possibly the worst, not in a singing ability per se, but the tone of voice. it was all airy and flighty and made Cessily think of happy things like rainbows and puppies, things she had tried hard to tell herself she now hated. The voice was so annoying she actually decided to confront it’s owner. Throwing the book she had been attempting to read onto the floor her silver hands pushed the rest of her body into a sitting position with a rather loud sigh, she stood and headed from her room in a huff. She stomped down the hallway and down the several flights of stairs, her mood getting darker the louder that infuriating voice got. She rounded a corner in her journey and was suddenly confronted by a wall of beautiful pure white feathers. Not beautiful, she reminded herself, annoying feathers. Having not met the owner before she built her usual defenses around herself and said in her best snarl, “Heyyy,” but then she remembered who the wings belonged to from the school guide and held her tongue.

It seemed to Lysander that the woman who’d cast her spell upon him had no intentions of freeing him even when Professor Worthington appeared, within a split second the winged man sprung into action and within moments Lysander’s hopes of rescue were dashed. “See your precious teachers?” The voice of the unknown woman rung in his head, pressuring against the inside of his temples. “Those who are meant to protect you, fleeing before the mighty Brotherhood.” Lysander could feel her presence, how she tensed as a gilded girl followed scooted around the retreating Angel. “Little girl, walk away.” She crooned, out loud this time as she glared at the redhead. Her attention turned to Lysander again, making him lift a foot and hold it out over the empty space of the ballroom. He couldn’t fight, he couldn’t flee, this was what it felt like to be trapped. As he felt the world spin and his balance fail him, sleek black top of the piano came up to meet him and his singing assailant didn’t allow him his arms to protect himself. Instead Lysander Dawne plummeted into the instrument hearing the deafening crack behind his ears and the crash of breaking wood and snapping piano strings. Lysander’s body erupted across the sprung floor like a funeral urn dropped from a great height that stained the wood grey with ash. Lysander could feel everything and nothing all at once and his emotions didn’t make sense without skin or blood or a thudding heart to indicate the fear and adrenaline that he’d experienced moments ago. Instead, he had ceased to be, A sentience that had no home to possess. The consciousness of Lysander fought to return to the fight erupting around him, but all he could do was watch and wait. Just like last time.

Warren snapped out of the foolery Mastermind’s illusion was creating when he heard a new voice behind him. Through the false flames, he saw the man standing still and proud. Narrowing his bright blue eyes, Warren launched himself forward, directly at Mastermind. His arms moved from his sides to hover directly in front of him. Quickly, the fiery visual disappeared as the winged professor collided with massive force into Mastermind. The impact and Warren persisting on after it, sent the two flying out of the nearby glass window. Shards rained down while the young professor let go of Mastermind, forcing the other male to tumble out onto the concrete patio and glass fragments. As the Brotherhood member scrambled to his feet, Angel’s fist connected with his jaw, causing his head to jerk and his feet to stumble into the remained of the bottom of the window frame. The scenery changed in Angel’s eyes again as Mastermind staggered back into the ballroom with a hand clamped over his now bloodied arm; for whatever the reason, Mastermind chose to lead him to believe that he was standing on a shallow cliffside with a fatal drop below. The blond clenched his jaw, unfazed by the heights and instead, took flight, gliding in the direction from which he’d come with the intent to follow Mastermind. The change from the night air to the more contained ventilation let him know that he was back inside the ballroom but his eyes went wide and multiple colors flashed before him as something blunt and slender hit him near the back of his head. His vision quickly went black and his consciousness was quickly slipping away as his body corkscrewed across the marble floor. He landed painfully on his back but managed to turn himself onto his side to relieve his wings before falling completely unconscious near the ballroom’s primary doors.

The feathers blocking Cessily’s path kept getting nearer and she had to side-step to avoid being collided with, her silvery features turned puzzled as she saw Angel’s face contorted in absolute horror, was he having some kind of seizure? She was pulled away from her thought process by that flighty voice she had heard earlier saying, “little girl, walk away.” Glancing around for the owner of the voice she spotted the dark haired girl on the balcony, “little girl?” Cessily shouted back, that was the best this newcomer could come up with? But the girl ignored her, distracted by something. Cessily ran up the stairs to the higher level and that’s when she saw Lysander for a brief moment before he stepped off the balcony edge. “Nooo!!” She screamed, her mean girl persona completely dropped as the genuine fear for her friend’s safety took over. She ran for the edge of the balcony and looked over just in time to see Lysander land, and then he was gone in what seemed like a cloud of ash. The sight hadn’t even registered properly when she felt the hard shove, right between her shoulders and she was also pushed over the edge. She didn’t have time to scream, but she did manage to focus, she had done something once by accident, surely she could do it to save her life? She hit the floor hard and splashed into a large puddle of silver on the floor. It didn’t hurt as such but the effort to transform her whole body had taken it’s toll. Her head rose from the dead centre of the puddle, followed by a neck, the more of her that rose, the smaller the puddle got. It took her a while to completely reform her whole body, and her fingers still weren’t fully formed when she felt a sharp tug on her bright red hair. Her elbow swung back on instinct and she was surprised to feel it connect with a jaw, she heard a female voice cry out in pain and spun to face her assailant, her silver eyes glaring at Lorelei. The next thing Cessily experienced was a roundhouse kick to the face, which she didn’t see coming until it was too late, Cessily had her tricks but clearly the older girl was the better fighter. The kick sent her to the floor, and the second kick to her stomach sent her sliding across the floor, her smooth silver skin making her travel further than a normal person would. She came to rest in the debris field of the piano, reaching down to try and get up she felt dust and splinters under her hands, but had to stay down, her body still fatigued from it’s complete rebuild from a puddle. “You should have walked away, little girl.” She heard the infuriating flighty voice croon to her, Cessily didn’t feel pain like she used to, but what she felt now seemed even worse, like a burning sensation where all her opponents attacks had hit their target and she was struggling to breathe from the kick she’d received to the chest, but she had to keep fighting, somehow. “Look at it this way sweetheart, you got beaten but at least you lasted longer than the men.” Lorelei’s voice was close now and Cessily seized her opportunity, swinging her arm in the direction of the voice she threw a large handful of dust and wooden splinters right into Lorelei’s face. The older girl screamed and raised both hands to her now dust filled eyes. Fighting through her pain and exhaustion, Cessily took advantage, getting up as quick as she could and swinging her fist wildly, she missed, but she was able to grab a handful of raven hair and pulled it hard towards her and down. Lorelei screamed as her body was forced to bend at the waist or have her hair pulled out and Cessily heard a reassuring crack as her raised knee connected with one, or several of the older girl’s ribs. Lorelei was bent double, struggling to breath as Cessily had been moments earlier, the red haired girl bent down and picked up one of the broken legs from the piano, “You should have stayed at home,” she said panting, her silver shoulders rising and falling with the effort of breathing, “little girl,” she finished venomously. Cessily swung the wooden leg with all the strength she could muster, hitting the older girl square on the head, the raven haired assailant crumpled into a heap on the floor.

Lysander’s body never really came together all at once, it was more like the pouring of sand into a bottle starting at the bottom and working its way upwards, every cell reforming painfully in an eternity that he never understood. It took forever but it seemed as though feeling was still muted as he gripped the bottom part of his outfit from the floor to quickly cover his modesty as Cessily danced around bare. As Cessily fought, Lysander felt her hands gripping an unidentifiable part of him to hurl into Lorelei’s eyes, if only he could control that separate part of him, make his ashen cells vibrate with such a force that her eyes burned from her skull. No, that was someone else, someone that fought with violence and death. Cessily brought his puppet master to the ground and he quickly kicked one of the broken chair legs across the ballroom floor to his recently introduced friend, watching with satisfaction as she used it to take the woman out. A wicked grin spread across Lysander’s face as he watched the woman crumple unconscious and as he looked at his clothing still grasped in his hand and threw them away. “You didn’t tell me that this was a naked party, but I’m totally in.” He laughed, holding up his boxers to the girl with fire in her hair. “Looks like I’m coming back together.” Lysander observed his skin, there was a definite grey tone to it but he assumed that would fix itself in time. “Watch Out!!”

Cessily dropped the wooden leg with a clang and glanced around the room, the feeling of loss suddenly making her chest feel tight. Her silver eyes fell on the spot she had become a puddle on the floor and there was a pile of clothing there, her clothing. She hadn’t realised she had been naked from that point and stumbled over to the garments, awkwardly putting them back on as her body tried to recover from it’s encounter with the songstress. Hearing a voice behind her, Cessily turned to find it’s source and her mouth fell open as her silver eyes fell on Lysander, standing tall in all his glory. Her glistening lips curled into a smile, she was pleased to see him. “What fun is a party if it isn’t a naked party?” She purred flirtatiously. Her silver eyes looked up and down the length of his body, both watching in awe as he seemed to rebuild before her eyes and also checking him out. She was impressed by both the ability and the sight. Her shiny silver hands went to her hips and she bit her glistening silver lip playfully, “like what you see?” She asked, unable to resist flirting despite the imminent danger. Upon hearing his cry of warning she glanced up just in time to see Angel flying back into the room through a smashed window, and the same piano leg she had just used, now in the hands of a young man she didn’t recognise, the impact of wood on skull made a loud crack sound and Cessily winced as she watched her professor skid across the floor and then completely stop moving, her glistening shoulders dropped. Here we go again, she thought as her silver eyes glanced around for something she could use in a fight against the young man.

Lysander winced at the re-appearance of the winged Professor dragging along another attacker, it seemed as though he was losing too. Soon enough his suspicions were confirmed as Angel lay still after a sickening blow to the head. “Looks like it’s me and you glitter girl.” He smirked, standing strong next to his ally as the man who’d taken down a trained fighter turned his focus to them.

Feeling emboldened by Lysander’s return, Cessily tilted her head towards Mastermind, her red hair dancing around her silver face with the action. “Feeling up to cracking some skulls?” She asked Lysander, her silver lips curling into a half smile, even if he wasn’t, she certainly was. Her body seemed to have mostly recovered and her breathing was normal again. Her shiny silver fingers ran through her vivid red hair and she started marching towards the man who had attacked Angel and saw him turn to face her, a wicked smile across his lips. As she raised her flesh colored hand and pressed it into the other, cracking the knuckles, then repeated the action with the other hand, the pale complexion of her hands turning slightly red… and she stopped dead. Cessily raised both hands higher, in front of her eyes, “I’m normal!?” She cried, her voice filled with conflicting emotions, “I don’t wanna be normal!” Her eyes glistened with tears threatening to fall and she fell to her knees, both fists following suit as she pounded them into the floor, “All I ever wanted was to be special, and now I’m not!” Her grey eyes suddenly went wide, “I can go home,” her voice suddenly filled with hope, “my parents will love me again, they’ll want me back, I can have my old life back.” She rubbed her pale hands together, feeling the rough surface of skin rather than her perfectly smooth metallic form, her pink lips curling into a smile. “I think I’ll actually miss this place, I’ve had more fun here than I have in years,” she confessed, “but if I was still shiny I could stay!” She cried, her voice once more filled with despair, she really didn’t know what she wanted.

“You know?” Lysander smirked as he watched the second attacker skulk from the shadows. “I could totally go for some skull cracking right now, and afterwards. I need a beer.” He smirked and watched out of the corner of his eye as Cessily raised her hands in what he assumed was a preparation to fight. If anything, Lysander was good at distraction and protection. It would be good to fight alongside someone as feisty as Cessily. As the words poured from her he knew that she was gone from him. Her eyes were unseeing as to what was real and she’d already began a self contained spiral. Lysander’s mind raced, still slightly perturbed that he’d died again only to be alive but he knew that he had to be conscientious of what he was facing. Did this man control fears, thoughts, feelings, memories? Lysander didn’t have time to waste, instead he ran for Mastermind and grimaced at the thought of actually getting into a fist fight. As he approached though, the man morphed into someone else, someone familiar with the stench of stale whiskey lingering in the air around him. “So here we are again son.” Lysander’s father spoke inside of his head. “You know what happens next don’t you? Your problem is you talk too much, you’re too loud and you shouldn’t be seen. I’m in control. I’m the one that makes the rules and you break too many of them.” Lysander’s knees buckled underneath him, and his eyes stung with the threat of tears as his Father approached with his fists balled and a sneer painting his face. “Now, how many times do I have to hit you to make it stick.” Although he knew it wasn’t real, Lysander couldn’t help but feel his chest tighten and the rate of his heart beating against his newly formed ribs almost hurt. His teeth ground together on the inside of his mouth and his mouth filled with ashes that he heaved into his lungs. There was the smallest part of him that wondered if he’d died again and this was his personal hell to be taunted by the phantom of the man he’d murdered. “And that thing you brought into our lives, Harry? Disgusting.” Lysander eyes flashed upwards at the spectre that towered over him. This was definitely wrong, his Father hadn’t known about Harry or how he fit into Lysander’s life or anything about who Ly had loved. Folding his legs underneath him, Lysander tensed like a panther about to pounce on his prey, ducking his head down and his chin inwards he threw himself upwards and felt his head connect with the jaw of his assailant the fog and phantoms clearing quickly as Mastermind flew from him, his feet leaving the floor as Lysander’s makeshift headbutt connected with him almost too perfectly. Rage flew through the veins of the boy as he quickly loomed over the attacker who groaned on the floor with blood pouring from between his lips, Lysander’s eyes burned down at him and fury drove Lysander to hurl the man to his feet. Without a word, Lysander pulled his head back and drove it forwards into the nose of the man, feeling it burst beneath the pressure as blood cascaded across Lysander’s forehead. The man slumped underneath Lysander’s grip and without a hesitance, Lysander let the man fall. Anger coursing through him like adrenaline as he looked for his next target.

Cessily felt the fog in her mind lift and she suddenly saw the carnage around her again, she had somehow forgotten she was fighting for her life? Her silver eyes glanced down at her glistening hands, had it all been a dream? In her confused state she didn’t notice the temperature rising within the room and the smoke collecting in the decorative roof, she payed no mind to the flickering of intense flames in her peripheral vision as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. Looking around she spotted Lysander, standing over the unmoving body of the unknown boy who had taken out Angel. Her eyebrow shot up into her bright red hairline, an unworded question but before she could speak she heard a maniacal laugh and suddenly both her and Lysander were surrounded by rings of intense fire. Looking up she spotted yet another person she didn’t recognise, the flickering of the flames lighting up his manic grin made him look rather insane and suddenly Cessily was fearful for her life again. She saw the incoming plume of flame heading right for her but there was nothing she could do to avoid it, surrounded as she was by the ring of intense fire, her reflective body making the flames look like they were already touching her. She didn’t know how her new metallic body would react to flames and heat, setting herself on fire hadn’t been at the top of her priority list, just like jumping off a balcony hadn’t been but she’d done that today, so she was on an intense learning curve into the limits of her new powers, she just hoped she survived the experience. Her glistening silver arms instinctively rose to protect her face as the burst of intense fire hit, she felt the temperature of her entire body rise and she let out a cry of anguish, though it wasn’t pain like she was used to feeling. Her fists clenched and her cry turned to more of a defiant roar which she sustained for as long as the blast lasted. Her shiny shoulders rose and fell with her heavy breathing but she stood defiant, her smoldering clothing falling once again from her glossy body. “Is that all you’ve got?” She taunted through gritted teeth, feeling bold due to her survival of the first blast, “I’ve had curries hotter than that!” Her silver eyes fixed onto her target with an intense glare and she forced her anguished body to move forward, stepping right through her fire prison. Her whole body still burned with the heat it seemed to have absorbed, and it hurt, a lot, but still she pushed forward. Seeing Burner’s face fall in shock spurred her on and it looked for a moment he might cave under her glare, but instead he raised a hand towards her and sneered as another plume of fire crackled through the air towards her, this one burned brighter and she felt the increase in heat before it even got near her. Her arms shot up once again to protect her face and she gritted her teeth, as soon as the flame hit she knew something was wrong though. She howled in agony as her whole body was superheated in seconds, her flame red hair actually on fire this time and her eyes widened in horror at the sight before them. Her mirror-like arms were glowing with an orange intensity, a quick glance confirmed her whole body was, and giant droplets of silver were dropping to the floor. The intense flame stopped and Cessily took advantage of the break, no long able to feel her feet, Cessily looked down and found them to be a puddle of liquid silver on the floor, her legs half the size they normally were as large droplets of silver ran down their length into the puddle that was her body. She was melting. A maniacal laugh made her look up and as her silver eyes fell on the boy responsible for her current situation, he sneered at her. “Hot enough for you now? Bitch!” he shot at her, followed immediately by another plume of intense fire. Cessily could do nothing to stop it, her body was broken, more puddle than person and the moving parts of her limbs had melted so she was frozen in place. A single silver tear dropped from her eye and ran down her glistening cheek right before the blast hit and she screamed in anguish once more.

Lysander’s adrenaline overtook his feelings of fear as the circle of fire began inching it’s way towards him, the heat beginning to lick against his bare skin as the underwear that he was still grasping embered away. With a quick jump he was out of the circle and the flames had licked against his shins, he watched as the attacker stretched out a hand towards Cessily and the other toward him and jets flew from his fingertips. Throwing his arms up in a cross Lysander braced against the heat and a small insane giggle poured inadvertently from his lips as he healed as quickly as he was injured, the pain numbed like it always was since his powers had manifested. Lysander’s small victory was short lived as Burner’s attention turned to Cessily, turning up the heat literally as the girl began to wane and droop. “Shit.” Lysander cursed under his breath, skipping out of the flames to rush the girl, Burner’s fires followed him and as Lysander threw himself in the path between Burner and Cessily he felt the flames intensify and lick up the skin of his back. Watching Cessily turn liquid spurned Lysander, he knew that this fight had to end quickly and they needed to recover in case something worse was around the corner. Turning to face his opponent Lysander glared at Burner, their eyes meeting, both burning with a rage that matched the intensity of the heat flowing from the mutants fingers. The tenacity of the two teenagers that had taken out his allies was ticking away somewhere in his mind and his paranoia fanned the flames, bringing the temperature up to unbearable levels. Lysander cursed and screamed as the flames licked his torso but he refused to back down, pressing against the tirade as it tore through him, heat ricocheting off him in perpendicular streams that diverted the flames from hitting Cessily. Lysander’s legs forced him forward, his fists balled in anger at the sudden attack on his home, his friends, his new life, eventually he’d driven himself forward and knocked the firestarters hands upwards so that he could close in for a face to face, fist to fist attack. As his hands connected with Burner’s chest Lysander began to heave the man backward, Burner fought back, clamping his fingers on Lysander’s shoulders and struggling against him. They pushed against each other, Lysander’s fury against Burner’s brute strength as victory danced through the imaginations of both combatants. Lysander didn’t dare lose focus or make a mistake now, his adversary didn’t utilize the same strategy and in that moment of distraction as Burner lost his footing over the broken window pane Lysander took his opportunity to thrust his shoulder into Burner’s chest to throw him backwards and out into the open air. Lysander’s bare knees crashed against the ground, his skin opening up and healing just as quickly as he straddled Burner. Cyclones of heat roared from nowhere, circling the fighting men as the oxygen in the air failed. Lysander’s fingers grasped Burner’s throat as the fires grew closer and caressed his skin softer than a lovers touch, he could feel himself flaking away and returning to normal. Burner’s eyes stared intently as Lysander’s grip tightened and the heat rose to unbearable temperatures. All of Lysander’s body throbbed as his mutation fought against the laws of nature to keep him alive, his skin tingled and shed away to grey that began to run down his bare arms. As his wrists turned ashen and the effect ran across the back of his hands to the tips of his extremities, his fingers collapsed on themselves disappearing in a cloud of dust. Burner gasped air back into his lungs as the flames died again giving him enough time to swing a punch at the face of his young assailant. Lysander’s head burst like an egg scattering dust across the gravel, giving the brotherhood member the chance to slip away from him and over the grounds of the Academy where he evaded any more attacks from Lysander, Cessily or anyone else that may show up in the mansion. Lysander brought himself back together, feeling his body returning to it’s full human form although he knew that something was different. As he looked at his bare skin he didn’t see the fleshy tones returning, instead he was still grey, ashen, small cracks running through him like a mirror that had been glued back together. He was broken, he could feel it. Lysander tried to stand and found that as his feet brushed the floor small wisps of ash brushed away from him as though he’d stepped into a pile of dust. Relief flushed through his mind as he figured he could walk and move, that was a beginning but as he made his way back into the ballroom, passing the overly sized windows he finally saw his own reflection. A naked version of himself that contained every line and contour of his body that he was used to, the definition of his muscle tone, his strong jaw, the full lips. Only now he was grey and flaking even now as he stood completely still. He turned to where Cessily crouched over the unconscious songstress Lorelei, divesting her of the purple dress she wore.

Cessily’s entire focus had been on getting her body back together and somehow reduce the temperature her superheated body was suffering from. Once she saw she was no longer laying in a shimmering silver puddle that was her own body she tried to push herself over onto her back, the effort caused her to cry out in pain as the parts of her body where muscles would have been burned under the strain. She collapsed onto her back and lay there with her eyes closed, once again focusing on getting her body to return to normal. She pressed a finger into her leg and it actually pressed slightly into her shining metallic body, like a baker pressing dough, but not enough to cause her discomfort. Her silver eyes opened with an effort and she saw the hazy silhouette of Lysander, standing in front of one of the unbroken windows. Spurred into motion at the sight of him, the fight now clearly over, Cessily pushed through the pain and discomfort and got to her feet, the room started spinning wildly and everything before her seemed hazy but she pushed on regardless. She stumbled and had to shuffle as her joints refused to cooperate with her movements. “You think that bitch’s dress will fit me?” She asked him as she stumbled towards the lifeless form of Lorelei, but he didn’t seem to hear her. The dress was a deep plum color and she knew it would clash violently with her vivid red hair, but it was still better than running around naked. She got stared at enough without adding that. Her gleaming lips curled into a smile and she looked over to Lysander as she crouched and began to remove the songstress’ garment, “Is this where we make out like in the movies?” She asked breathlessly, it was an immense effort to speak but she had to hide behind her flirty and sassy demeanor to hide the terror still coursing through her. “You throw the best naked parties, but I don’t think we should invite Fire-Guy next time,” she took a few deep breaths, “nobody like a party crasher, right?” She just about managed a very feeble laugh but Lysander wasn’t responding at all, it was then her blurry vision cleared enough for her to seem him properly for the first time, maybe all wasn’t as well as she first thought.

Lysander parted his lips to respond to the girl, the corners of his mouth twisting a little that she was asking such a thing at a time like this, when he looked the way he did. Something didn’t connect within him, his body wasn’t the same and he didn’t make any sound, as his eyes flashed wide with panic he understood nothing about what had happened other than something was suddenly very, very wrong.

Cessily saw the panic suddenly come to Lysander’s face and she realised everything was definitely not ok. Was this the first time Lysander had turned to this ashen form? He was clearly having trouble speaking so she asked no more questions. Cessily awkwardly slipped Lorelei’s hideous dress over her shoulders, she was right it clashed horribly but there were more important things to worry about right now. She stumbled over to Lysander and her silver eyes looked up into his, as she spoke her tone was soft and caring, a tone barely anyone heard, she said, “Whatever it is, we’ll work it out ok? No panicking, we got this.” It was the best she could do, she wasn’t good at sympathy or understanding. She was rescued by the sound of a groan coming from another side of the room, she span round fearful that Mastermind had reawakened but instead her silver eyes fell on a set of moving white wings as her professor came round from his bump to the head. “And that’s the man to help,” she said brightly to Lysander.