Intertwined Genes (Griselda Banks + Akira.S)

[Griselda Banks]

As he slowly advanced towards Magneto, Oliver wondered what would happen once he was in Magneto's power. He had assumed that Magneto had wanted both him and Anna, that they had both been special because their experiments had been a success. Then it had seemed that the one Magneto was the most interested in was Anna...but now it turned out that he was Magneto's prized possession?

What did Magneto want with him? What was so important about this experiment? So he had managed to create mutants. But what made him so different from Anna, just because they had given him all of her dominant genes and taken away all his recessive ones? Whatever Magneto's plan was, he knew it wouldn't bode well for the rest of the world. If he gave himself up, Magneto would be closer to his goal, whatever it was...but at least Anna would go free.

He looked at Anna one last time, at her pleading expression. If he joined Magneto, they would probably never see each other again. These past weeks without her had been torturous. She made him feel like his life had purpose, like there was more to this world than just carrying on from day to day. With her at his side, he thought he could endure anything, but without her....

Then he looked back at Magneto's outstretched hand, and he realized...Magneto had no reason to keep her alive even if he did go along with his plans. He considered her as nothing but a tool, a means to his end. He wouldn't feel the slightest bit of remorse if he took what he wanted, and then killed her just to get rid of a loose end.

And Oliver knew he couldn't live with that.

"No!" He suddenly started running towards Anna, knowing that it was no use, knowing that they would both probably end up dead. But he didn't care. Life or death, he wanted to be with her no matter what.

He had only taken a few paces when he felt a jolt in his midriff and staggered to a halt, staring down in shock at the knife that had threatened Anna, now stuck up to the handle in his stomach. For a moment, the world seemed frozen. Then he clutched the knife, pulled it out, and clutched his wound as he fell to the ground. He could feel his warm blood oozing between his fingers, no matter how desperately he clutched at it, trying to hold it in.

"You idiot!" Magneto howled at his henchman. "What have you done to my precious weapon?!"

But Oliver ignored him and the mutant's feeble protests. He craned his neck up to look for Anna.

((I hereby give you permission to make Oliver reach up with his bloody hand to get their blood in contact biggrin ))  

[Akira.S]

(Roger will do!)

With every lingering step Oliver took towards Magneto less of a grip she felt around her chest. The sliver of blood was still oozing out but she’d gotten used to it already and tried not to breathe so hard.
Suddenly, Oliver cried out. He refused to go along with Magneto’s plans and made a run towards her. But not five paces from where he was the knife that had been used to cut her neck had flown across the floor and made it into Oliver’s stomach.

Magneto was in a rage. The Professor saw this as an opportunity to get them both out. Emma went into diamond form while Logan raged towards the mutant who’d attacked Anna and Oliver. This little distraction provided Anna with a big enough chance to wriggle herself out and kick the mutant-hard, in the ribs, forcing him to drop her and allow her to get away while Logan, Emma and the Professor were dealing with the rest of the situation.

Anna fumbled on the ground a bit, feeling her neck and seeing how much blood she was really losing. Looking at her hand it wasn’t a life threatening situation, but she worried about Oliver...his wound was much more serious. Whatever was going on around her didn’t seem to exist...the world became irrelevant. Getting up off the cold metal ground she got up and ran over to Oliver, sliding down by his side, taking his face in her hands and pressing her forehead against his. She had to make sure he was real....had to know that this just wasn’t one of her sick dreams.

“You came back for me...even if you knew it was a trap...” she said softly so only he could hear.

He tried to say something back, but she stopped him by putting a finger on his lips, knowing to move or to breathe would only make his injury worse. Still, he reached his bloody hand up and put a hand on her cheek, probably the same reason she needed to touch him...to know that she was really there. In the mean while, Anna had to press on his wound to slow the bleeding down. Worried he could bleed to death she had to get him out, somewhere where she could bandage his wound.

“We have to go while we can, neither of us is safe” it was like another mission, Anna leading him out and him following. Although she had no powers to use she still had to try, at least to get them away from Magneto. She tried to help him up and get him towards the door, but he was pretty heavy and she knew he couldn’t move too much. Oliver had been the one coming to save her more times than she could remember...she had to repay him somehow, with or without powers she promised herself both of them would get out together.

(I just wanted to give it a minute for the blood to sink in. Something needs to separate her from him so then she’ll freak out and become Tempest)
 

[Griselda Banks]

"You came back for me...even if you knew it was a trap...."

"O-Of course I..." Oliver tried to gasp out, but she shushed him and pressed her hands against his wound. But it was already growing numb and cold, as though the lower half of his body was miles away from his head. Anna tried to lift him up, but as much as he tried to help out, he was just too heavy and weak to make it.

As he fell back to the ground, he realized something: He was dying. It was a small wound, but it was deep and bleeding a lot. Maybe it would still be a while before he actually succumbed, but he could hear the sounds of conflict all around them, and he knew that it would probably still be a long time before such powerful mutants would be finished. And by then, it might be too late.

"I'm sorry," he managed to mutter, his teeth chattering and his whole body starting to tremble from shock. He lifted one shaking hand and touched her cheek, his blood marring her beautiful face. He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for - putting her in this hostage position, being the reason she was experimented on, dying.... His hand slipped down to her neck, and he ran his bloody thumb across the cut, which was already starting to clot. "Sorry for everything." His arm grew heavier, and his hand fell against his chest.

He was starting to lose his focus on reality, but before Anna could make any kind of reply, a meaty hand closed on her shoulder. The mutant that had held her before was back again, while Magneto wreaked havoc of such ferocity that Xavier and the others had to focus all their attention on him. The other mutant grabbed Anna's arms and roughly tugged her away from Oliver, who collapsed in a painful pile at their feet. Apparently, the mutant thought he could curry a bit more favor by capturing her again, even though Magneto's pet project was bleeding out at their feet. Oliver reached out weakly, but could barely move.  

[Akira.S]

Anna’s efforts to get Oliver to safety seemed futile; they could barely take five steps before he fell to the ground. Catching him, Anna sat back down and held him in her arms while pressing her hand against his wound. She could barely look down at his abdomen...the wound was so small but so deep...there was blood almost all over his lower body and a lot of it was now on her clothes and all over her hand. He was losing too much blood and she didn’t know what to do, and she didn’t have anything on her to close the wound.

“Oliver listen to me...you have to stay with me okay? We’ve come all this way, found out so much about each other...don’t you dare leave me now.” Her voice was still calm but there was a hint of desperation, almost as if she was pleading. Her white eyes gave off a soft look, she couldn’t cry, she wouldn’t allow herself to, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Oliver dying...leaving her...she couldn’t think of a world without him in it.

“Shhh...don’t apologize. I’m right here, and everything’s going to be okay, we’ll be back at the institute and everything will be the same...” with her free hand she held his bloody hand on her cheek, trying to hold back this horrible feeling that was welling in her chest...tears were forming and mixing with the blood on his hand....Anna was really, genuinely crying.

His arm grew heavier and slipped through her hand. It fell to the nap of her neck where he ran his hand across the wound which she could barely feel. All that mattered was that Oliver continue looking at her, staying conscious, being alive. “Oliver...Oliver look at me, just keep looking at me, don’t close your eyes, if you do we can’t be together, that’s what you wanted isn’t it? That’s why you’re here....so you and I can be together. If you love me you won’t leave me.” The tears wouldn’t stop, her hand was trembling now, and she was trembling as she held him. This pain in her chest...it was so much stronger than anything she’d ever felt before, it hurt so much more, like a big black hole was swallowing her up from the inside.

Slowly...Oliver’s arm grew heavier and then fell from her neck to his chest.

Before Anna could say anything, to keep him from drifting away, a hand closed in on her shoulder and she was viciously pulled away from Oliver, forcing him to collapse in a painful pile at their feet. Anna tried to resist, pulling and squirming as the mutant roughly man-handled her, taking her one step at a time farther away from Oliver. “Let me go! Get off me!” she cried still pulling away, her eyes focused on Oliver. She couldn’t bear the thought of him slipping away...how was she going to live without him....she thought about all the joy he brought her, all the happiness and all the memories, then she thought about all the loneliness and pain she’d felt and hidden, it was unreal how much that pain amplified the feeling in her chest. She couldn’t live without Oliver...she knew she couldn’t, she didn’t want to be without him...if he died...

“LET GO OF ME!!!” Out of absolutely no where, there was a sudden flash of energy. A burst of power, that sent the mutant flying against the far wall.

The wave was so strong that it even interrupted the fight between the Professor and Magneto. The flash energy wasn’t even just a flash...it remained constant and only got stronger with each passing second. The Professor and the others, even Magneto turned to see where the source of the energy was coming from....they all assumed it was Oliver.

“Where is it coming from?!” Magneto asked himself while trying to shield himself from being tossed against the wall like his thug.

There was this invisible force surrounding Anna as she was now floating a few inches off the ground. Her eyes were bright white...glowing even. You could almost see the wind currents surrounding her in several merging spheres; they almost looked like invisible blades that could cut through anything, even solid metal. In addition to the wind picking up and the invisible force pushing everything and everyone back, the room around them started to rumble violently. Then suddenly large tree branches just popped through the metal room out of every direction, I’m talking massive tree branches,....and not just branches, like fully grown tree branches with actual leaves on them.
 

[Griselda Banks]

((Oh dude it's actually happening eek ))

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Anna, all thoughts of fighting suddenly forgotten. Whether they had really known her or not, no one had expected her to suddenly explode with such power. Those who knew about the connection between her and Oliver were doubly surprised that she could suddenly use her powers when he was only feet away from her. Xavier's eyes darted worriedly to Oliver on the ground, but he needn't have feared - after all, Anna would never be able to harness the power of the earth without him...right?

Magneto could only stare, dumbfounded, at his creation that he had thought to toss away as so much trash. "I...was wrong?" he breathed. "It wasn't him, but...?"

They had no more time to gape or speculate. Whole chunks of the ceiling were falling in, the structure of Genosha starting to crumple with the sheer force of the roots and branches bursting in all directions and howling in the torrents of wind. Anna had gone completely out of control.

Oliver stared at her as well, even though he felt as though he could barely move. He realized that she was unable to stop, so she would keep pouring all the power Magneto had pumped into them until the entire island collapsed, with all of them in it. He looked at her face, flat and blank with her eyes glowing and emotionless. But he knew her inside-out, and he didn't have to look for an expression to know that she would want to stop. All the people most important to her were here in this room, and she was unable to stop herself from killing them. He had to do something...but what?

He couldn't think clearly; his head was swimming and he knew he'd lost too much blood already. He knew there was little hope even with his powers, but he reached out to them all the same. To his surprise, even though Anna was so close, he could access them with no trouble at all. He wasn't strong enough to do much, but he started by fashioning a makeshift bandage over his stomach with some sturdy leaves, and with difficulty pushed himself to a sitting position.

By now, the teachers and Magneto were doing their best to protect themselves and contain the raw power pouring out of this girl. But to Oliver's astonishment, even the combined efforts of the strongest mutants in the world could only succeed in keeping them all from being killed, but they didn't seem able to stop her.

He didn't know what he could possibly do, but he reached for her. He reached for the metaphorical tap in his mind that he had learned to access all those months ago, when he had first gone to the school and learned how to use his plant powers. He sent his mind across the connection he had found after their last mission to Genosha, the channel between him and Anna, where the current of her powers seemed redirected to him. He tried to find some way to close it off, but it was like pressing a finger right against a running tap, and it was no good.

Oliver crawled across the floor closer to her, determined to be at her side even if they did all end up dying. She was floating above the ground, and in his weakened state Oliver didn't think he could stand, so the only part of her he could reach was her ankle. He clung to it like a lifeline and whispered, "Come back, Anna...please...." His words were lost in the howling wind.

He drew on every last reserve of his power, making even more branches burst through the ground, trying to stop her in the only way he knew how. Then something occurred to him, and he looked up at Anna's unseeing gaze. Grasping her ankle more tightly, he turned his power inward, reversing the flow so that instead of rushing out of him to the world around, it flowed into Anna instead. He didn't know what he was doing, but he pressed with all his might, pushing his power to the very limits of his strength. All he knew was that their powers canceled each other out, that they were incompatible. And if this didn't work...then they were screwed anyway.  

[Akira.S]

((I DON’T WANT IT TO ENDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD NUUUUU))!!!!!

“PROFESSOR WHAT’S HAPPENING!?” Even in diamond form Emma still had a hard time standing ground. The ceiling was collapsing; tree branches and strange plants were shooting out of any direction at any given time, like spears piercing through solid metal. She had to evade and dodge certain branches, plants and vines from stabbing or binding her in one spot or she’d be dead. Logan of course, being the animal that he was, was cutting up the tree branches and vines that whipped towards him, then he would climb the larger ones and try to jump down onto Anna, hoping he could snap her out of her daze, “Wake up kid before seriously hurt someone!” he said as he leaped from a high branch towards her.

Anna just had to turn her gaze to look up at Logan for gusts of wind as strong as a tornado to push him back, throwing him onto the ceiling while vines shot out and wrapped around his entire body, holding him there. Then her gaze turned again so she was staring at nothing, the forces of wind now so strong it was breaking the tree branches and leaves, sharpening them as they whirled around, cutting even the thickest metal and the clothes they wore. Small scratches began to appear on everyone’s clothes and skin, everyone except Anna and Oliver. She seemed completely unaffected, though her eyes were glowing, her jet black hair flowing out of control; a certain radius of space around her seemed completely protected, lucky for Oliver he was in that space so he too wasn’t affected by what was happening around them.

Neither the Professor nor Magneto knew what was happening. He shielded himself with force fields but was still pushed against the back wall, unable to manoeuvre towards her. Magneto tried to put up metal barricades around or create swords to cut through the vines and branches, but everything was happening so fast...he could barely even fly around the room to get a better look. When he was able to just glimpse around for Charles and his team, he noticed a pile of blood coming from somewhere behind Anna. It wasn’t from Oliver who was crawling towards her pathetically...but behind her was his henchmen who’d been rammed through the chest with a large tree branch, and several small ones through his shoulder, leg and arms with leaves still healthily growing on them. If Anna could do that....none of them were safe.

Upstairs where all the fighting was going on chaos was stirring there too. Everyone had stopped fighting each other and were trying to get off the island when the plants started going nuts, the earth started shaking, and the winds began to pick up. Storm couldn’t even control the clouds that were bringing in violent winds, students couldn’t fly and some were even being bound to the ground or to structures by the vines shooting up from the ground. Neither Cyclops nor Storm had contact with the Professor and wondered what was going on down there, but the important thing to do was to get all the students and Genosha mutants off the island as quickly and as safely as possible.

Anna no longer had any self control. As her raw power poured out of her growing stronger and stronger by each passing second, Anna became more and more violent. First, she turned her gaze towards Emma who was still running around as best she could, dodging the branches that would shoot out of nowhere. Anna extended her arm out to where Emma might jump next and sent out a cannon of wind to push her against the wall, then like Logan several vines began quickly wrapping themselves around her holding her tightly, but these weren’t just wines, there were thorny vines and even if she was in diamond form they’d still be able to cut her if she moved around too much.

Then there was the Professor and Magneto. Without much thought or idea of what she was doing she turned her gaze towards the Professor and moved her hand out towards him. The violent wind currents ripped him from his chair so he was now floating several feet off the ground. She didn’t attack him, only kept him up there in a sphere of violent wind while the leaves that were flying around kept cutting at his skin and ripping through his clothes. Finally, Magneto who she saved for last had a barricade of metal objects around to do his bidding, but that wouldn’t stop her or her plants. She toyed with him, lifting him off the ground with gusts of wind like it was nothing, then throwing him around at the walls and plants like it was nothing but a rag doll. There wasn’t any enjoyment or pleasure on her face, just an empty look, emptier than her usual one except she had dried blood on her face, neck and partially on her clothes.

All this time she didn’t even notice Oliver moving, crawling towards her. He wrapped his hand around her ankle and tried making more branches emerge from the ground, but all it did was bounce off her spheres and shoot up elsewhere. At some point he spoke something but Anna was in another world, she was completely unaware of what was happening and had no self-restraint whatsoever.

But then everything started changing...slowly but surely. The wind began howling just as it did but the plants began immerging faster and more violently, the places was more like a zoo than a chamber now, plants of every sort were just popping out of everywhere, flying everywhere, everything was just so chaotic. Everything was happening so fast no one really had time to explain what was going on...but the light in Anna’s eyes got brighter and brighter till it was so bright you couldn’t look into it. The light began filling the entire room until there was nothing...nothing but white noise and a white light you couldn’t look at.

Everyone had to shut their eyes as it filled the room, waiting for it to dissipate so they could see again....

When they could open their eyes everything had stopped. The plants and trees were still in the chamber but the leaves were fluttering down like snow, the wind had stopped howling and the plants stopped growing. Slowly the vines released Logan from the ceiling and Emma from the wall, and the Professor found himself on the ground near his chair completely unharmed despite the cuts he sustained to his body and clothes. Magneto had regained consciousness after being rammed with several trees and thrown around like a toy...but the mutant that had been rammed with the tree still stood dead where he was before.

Everything seemed quiet and peaceful for some reason, and all their attentions were turned to the centre of the room to where they thought Anna would be standing.

But instead of her standing there she was lying on the ground partially in the foetal position, her eyes closed almost as if she was sleeping peacefully. Oliver was beside her...he too looked calm, and somewhere during that process of white light Anna descended into Oliver’s arms and passed out, one hand just barely holding his as he lay beside her almost holding her protectively – like his life depended on it. It wasn’t clear whether or not the two were even still alive, they didn’t seem to be moving....  

[Griselda Banks]

When Oliver opened his eyes, he felt disoriented and confused. It took a few minutes of blinking and staring up at the white ceiling before he realized that he wasn't in Genosha anymore. A few more minutes, and he slowly registered the clean sheets encasing him, and the soft pillow under his head. He turned his head to one side, slowly taking in a room that he recognized as the infirmary of Xavier's school. He turned his head to look the other way, and saw that another hospital bed had been pulled up alongside his - and in it, peacefully asleep, lay Anna.

A relieved smile broke out across his face. She was alive and safe. He didn't know how it had happened, but it was all over now. They were both safe and sound again. He tried to sit up, but a piercing pain in his middle stopped him; when he reached under his shirt, he felt a bandage wrapped tightly around where the knife had struck.

"Take it easy, son."

Oliver turned in surprise to see Xavier sitting in his wheelchair in the corner. The old man rolled up next to the bed; he looked odd with only his head showing over the edge. Other than a small bandage on one cheek, he didn't look any worse for the wear, which was a relief. "You've had a rough time of it, but you'll both pull through. For now, you just need rest, and you'll be good in no time."

"What happened?" Oliver asked weakly. The last thing he could remember was the room exploding around him with plants and howling wind.

Xavier turned his gaze to Anna. "I'd like to explain it to you both when you're conscious. I'll return after she wakes up. Just press the call button if you need anything."

He left, and Oliver lay back against the pillow. How had they managed to survive? And what had happened back there?  

[Akira.S]

There seemed to be a lot more fuss and worry over Anna than over Oliver. There wasn’t a calendar in the room, just a clock to show them what time it was, but nothing to indicate how long they’d actually been back at the institute. Oliver may have been fine other than getting stabbed in the abdomen, but Anna had gone through much worse...internally anyway. There were machines hooked up to her, mostly to monitor her heart rate, her brain activity, blood pressure, all that jazz. There were several other machines that monitored other things that neither of them would understand but they were going anyway.

Anna barely stirred.

She hardly breathed at all but when she did it seemed very shallow. It’s like she wasn’t alive at all.

Despite all the machines and her barely breathing there was something strangely different about her. Her skin wasn’t as pale anymore; she actually had colour, a soft creamy like shade.

Some hours passed and Anna didn’t move. Maybe every now and then her finger would jolt and the monitor monitoring her brain activity would spike...then it would go back down. Other machines would go on and off for hours...but still nothing.

“Don’t worry Oliver,” Emma came in to bring him food, sitting down beside Anna’s bed and moving her hair out of her face, “she’ll wake up eventually, Dr. McCoy assured me there’s nothing wrong with her, it’s just taking her a little bit longer that’s all.” Emma couldn’t explain why it was taking Anna longer and she wished the Professor or Dr. McCoy would tell her, but for now they just had to be patient with her. “Now eat, if the Professor finds out you’re refusing food he’ll probably have them inject it into your stomach.” The food didn’t look all that edible to be completely honest. It would probably take a while for his stomach to get used to eating solid food again but for the time being at least he had something to give him energy, not to mention it would keep him conscious.

Then it was dark.

The only light in the room was the light coming from the vast machines still monitoring Anna. Every so often they’d beep and sometimes her heart rate and brain activity would go up for a period then back down, then up....then down but nothing really changed.

Maybe she’d never wake up. Maybe the Professor wanted to hide the fact that Anna was in a coma. The way she just lay there...so peacefully, like an angel, like a doll, like a dead thing.

The Professor had every guarantee that she’d wake up, so why hadn’t she yet?

Suddenly out of nowhere she just started spazing. At first it started with her hand. Her fingers jolted, and twitched against the fabric of the sheets, almost like she was trying to regain movement in her fingers and hand. Then she clutched the sheets, as the rest of her started to shiver...and shake, her entire body began to tremble and she stirred like a child having a nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from.
 

[Griselda Banks]

It was a day filled with suspense for Oliver. He was too weak to get out of bed, too distracted with worry to fill the time. All he could do was wait for Anna to wake up, and she didn't seem likely to do so anytime soon. So he dozed and picked at the food that Emma brought, and watched the minute hand slowly move around the clock as the hours oozed by. He also watched Anna sleep, thinking she looked even more beautiful than ever even with all the needles and tubes stuck into her.

But then she started to tremble violently, clutching the sheets. Oliver sat up in concern, waiting for her to open her eyes or fall still again, but she just kept trembling. "Anna?"

When he got no response, he slammed his hand on the call button and pushed himself off his bed. He almost collapsed to the floor, but managed to catch himself on the table where Emma had left his dinner tray. Legs shaking violently, he staggered over to Anna's bed, having to bend almost double from the pain in his middle. He collapsed in relief against Anna's bed, grasping her hand. "Anna?"

She still wouldn't wake up, and her muscles kept jerking with spasms. He was dimly aware of her heart monitor beeping insistently, but he had no attention to spare. Her eyebrows were drawn together as if in pain. "It's okay, Anna," he said desperately, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and weakly trying to lift her into his arms. But he was too weak, so all he could do was drop his head onto her shoulder. "It'll be okay," he whispered, hardly knowing what he was saying. "I'm right here, and it's all going to be fine...."

He kissed her cheek, praying for her to wake up.  

[Akira.S]

Anna’s episode continued for a few moments. It felt like forever to both of them...it seemed like forever ago that Oliver slammed on the Call button.

Several moments after he’d staggered beside her bed, holding her, his head rested against her trembling shoulders, her eyes shot open, her arms tightly clutched around the body that almost lay on top of her. She clung to him desperately, her breath heavy, her chest heaving quickly as if she’d forgotten how to breathe. Her arms still trembled as she held him, but slowly they stopped, as did the violent beeping of the machines around her bed.

“...Oliver...” her voice was sheepish; there was barely any sound to it. She released him slowly, wanting to look into his eyes and make sure she wasn’t dreaming him up.

But just as he arched up to look at her, the Professor, Emma and Dr. McCoy came rushing through the doors to exam her. Emma had to pull Oliver away from Anna, barely giving him a chance to see if she was okay. She helped him back onto his bed while the Professor and Dr. McCoy were going through the readings from the past couple of minutes, standing in front of Anna so his view of her was obscured. They used various tools, looked at various charts, and gave her a quick physical examination, all of which took about fifteen minutes before they came up with anything conclusive.

“A minor panic attack fused with intense nightmares. Her body is also seriously dehydrated and is obviously weak from a lack of nutrition the last...well we’ll get to that. You two probably want to catch up.” Dr. McCoy read off his clipboard and then scratched the back of his head, looking at Oliver, then Emma, then the Professor who was standing at Anna’s side while he was standing in between both Anna and Oliver.

“As much of a shock as it will be they’ll need to face it sooner or later. Better now than later.” The Professor said calmly as Dr. McCoy stepped aside so both Anna and Oliver could really see each other for the first time since the Genosha incident.

Anna wasn’t in as much of a shock to see Oliver the way he was...but something about his reaction to seeing her made her question what had changed. He seemed taken aback when he caught his first glimpse of her...she was actually quite frightened. “What...what is it? Oliver?” Anna sounded quite concerned. The way Oliver was looking at her made her feel uneasy and she felt a small pit in her chest grow bigger and bigger. The empty feeling began filling her up in a way she’d never felt before. Her hand rose to her chest to feel her heart pumping quickly, her breath quickening. She’d never ever felt this sort of sensation before. And it wasn’t just that...she felt and saw things in a different light. Something had changed...something was different.

It took Anna a few moments to realize it but her gaze wandered the room, and then wandered down to her open hand. She stared at it a long time before realizing something had changed. The gut feeling in her chest began to rise. The Professor put his hand on her shoulder to stabilize her, making sure she didn’t go into shock. "Oliver...can you see them...the air currents? because...I can't feel the plants outside that window." she gestured to the window behind her which was facing the backyard.
 

[Griselda Banks]

Oliver was so shocked (and so weak) that he didn't struggle when Emma pushed him back onto his bed and made him lie down. He lay on his side, staring at Anna. "Your...your eyes...." They looked so vivid when he was so used to them being flat and colorless; he could see their color all the way across the room.

Then he realized what she had said about the plants outside, and he realized that in this small room, they were close enough that he should be able to access her powers and manipulate the air. He hadn't thought about it, because that power was still relatively new to him, but now that he thought about it, he couldn't see any currents no matter where he looked. He couldn't even see his breath, which he usually could when he was close to Anna (something that had been rather disconcerting at first, since it made him think it must be really cold even though it wasn't).

They both turned helplessly to the Professor, begging him for answers to this unforeseen development. He nodded to Emma and the doctor, who stepped out of the room. Xavier rolled up closer to them, stopping in the gap between their beds and looking seriously from one worried face to the other. "Magneto has been meddling in matters no one should tamper with. He tried rearranging your genes in the hopes of not only creating mutants from scratch, but also turning Oliver into a sort of 'super-mutant' with which, presumably, he could put down any resistance.

"But his experiments had an unexpected outcome - the super-powered mutant turned out to be you, Anna." He smiled slightly at her. "Unfortunately, that power proved to be uncontrollable. It would have consumed us all, had it not been for Oliver's presence. His powers negated yours, until you finally burned out completely."

Oliver tried to sit up, but the pain kept him down. "Wait - completely?"

Xavier sighed, his expression neutral. "I've run tests on both of you, and checked with the Cerebro as well. It seems safe to say that your powers are gone."

Oliver, stunned and not quite sure how to feel about that, looked over at Anna to see how she took the news.  

[Akira.S]

Just before she’d asked him about whether or not he could see the air currents, Anna faintly heard him mutter something about her eyes. After Dr. McCoy had finished running some tests on her, and Oliver was sitting on his bed trying to read the air currents, he handed her a mirror from his lab coat pocket.
“I warn you, this might be a bit of a shock…” he said as he watched Anna’s reaction as she looked into the mirror.

For the first time in 18 years she couldn’t recognize the person staring back at her. The young lady staring back at her had beautiful cream coloured skin, perfectly straight raven black hair past her shoulders, but she also had dark brown eyes that stared back at her. She almost didn’t know how to take it…she was silent for the longest time, her hands shaking, almost dropping the mirror onto the bed.

At the same time, both Anna and Oliver turned towards the Professor to ask for an explanation as to what had happened to them.

The Professor asked for Emma and Dr. McCoy to excuse themselves from the room before he explained the delicacy of the situation to them. He confirmed what they thought to be true; all their assumptions being correct, it was just hard hearing it from someone else.

During the speech Anna put the mirror face down on the bed in front of her. She could barely look at herself or fully understand everything that had happened. She couldn’t bring herself to look Oliver in the eye, at least not yet. She sat there with the utmost silence and stillness, and yet was just as aware of the situation as Oliver was.

She couldn’t believe that she’d lost control of her powers – that she was the super-powered mutant Magneto wanted to create…she could barely remember the events of that day, it was all just quick images flashing in her mind. It was hard to sink in the idea that if it wasn’t for Oliver she would have killed the Professor and probably so many other mutants in the process...but thankfully Oliver was there and his powers had somehow been able to negate hers.

Then Oliver questioned the Professors claims.

Their powers burned out ‘completely’? Entirely? As in…gone forever?

The evidence was substantial, all the tests came back negative, even Cerebro found no trace of an active mutant gene in their DNA. Both of them were completely and 100% human.

For the second time today Anna’s assumptions were proven completely true.
Dr. Smith had indicated that during the experimentation process physical and mental changes may occur in a subject. Oliver had never exhibited any changes but Anna had lost touch with her feelings and the ability to empathize with people, her skin was pale like snow, and her eyes were like glass balls…empty and white.

Now she looked like a normal human girl.

While deep in thought she noticed Oliver was looking at her, wondering how she’d take the news. He’d only been at the Institute for several months, learning to control powers he didn’t want. She’d been stuck with her powers since she was a teenager and had learned to grow accustom to life with them. She couldn’t imagine life without them as much as she sometimes wished to be human. In truth, the idea of trying to function in normal society after being so used to discriminated against scared her. There was so much history she’d have to hide from normal people if she ever wanted to live as a human, to have friends, to get a job, to get married and have kids (though that idea made her blush slightly). You couldn’t just tell people you were some sort of human experiment, turned mutant, then turned super mutant and then back to human. The government would probably lock you up for testing or put you in an insane asylum. You couldn’t just lie to people about the first 18 years of your life, that just wasn’t said.

“You must be thrilled,” were the first four words that came out of her mouth in the last fifteen minutes, “I remember when you first came here, you were ashamed and hated your powers…how much you wished to be normal, and now you have your wish…we’re normal.” Anna spoke to Oliver then looked down at her open palm in silence. Her mind was still trying to process all the information, everything was just happening so fast it was really hard to take it all in. With her feelings in tact it was hard to really tell what she was supposed to feel at this very second…if anything she was feeling uneasy and unsure about what to do with herself.

“What happens to us now?” she asked the Professor, turning her head and folding her hands comfortably on top of her lap.  

[Griselda Banks]

Oliver didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell if Anna was bitter about what had happened - he wasn't even sure what he thought of it. He supposed it wouldn't be so awful to go back to being a normal human being - after all, he had lived like one for most of his life - but he didn't know if he would be able to go back to his "parents" and act like none of this had happened. They knew what he was - knew that he had been a failed experiment - and they had never even told him he wasn't theirs. They might not even love him after all.

But whatever he ended up doing, he knew he wanted to be with Anna. None of his old high school friends would be able to relate to him; he wouldn't be able to share any of the things most important to him. Now he would even be set apart from his friends here at the Academy. They would go out into the world and find ways to put their powers to good use, but he would have to find a normal job, figure out something that he could be good at without any supernatural help.

The only person left who could truly understand where he'd come from and what he was going through was Anna.

Laboriously, Oliver dragged his thoughts back to the present as Xavier said gently, "You can stay here for as long as you like. Neither of you are strong enough to go anywhere for a while, and you will always be welcome, powers or no powers. I can also help you find jobs or places to live if you would rather move on. For now, just rest and process what's happened. Don't worry about making a decision until you're ready."

With that, he rolled out of the room and left them alone.  

[Akira.S]

The silence was nauseating.

It was hard to imagine her life without her powers. She could barely remember her life before her powers; being here at the academy consumed her.

The Professor generously allowed them to stay at the Institute until they were better, until they were ready to come to terms with what happened and to make a decision about what they were going to do now. Thank god it was summer break. Imagine if there were still hundreds of students on campus and they found out about Anna and Oliver. She was sure more than half would hate and fear them. After all they were ‘cured’, not that being a mutant was a disease, but some of the students, like Oliver, never wanted their powers and had to cope with the change. It wasn’t fair that all of a sudden Anna and Oliver’s powers were suddenly zapped from them and they could be normal human beings.

Besides what would she do now? She had a high school education, but realistically would she make it in the outside world? It was selfish of her to ask Oliver to stay, but even if she remained at the Institute what would she do?

The Professor was right. She was in no mental or physical state to be worrying about this now. The only thing she knew for certain was that after all this fighting and struggling...no matter what happened she wanted to be with Oliver. He was the only thing she was certain of; he was the only thing that made sense, she knew no matter what, her future was with him as long as he wanted her.

The silence between the two had gone on long enough, long after the Professor left. Just when neither of them could take it anymore Anna forced herself off the bed, stumbled over to Oliver’s and half-sat on his bed, her arms around him, her head gently rested on his abdomen.

“I was so afraid I’d lost you...”

She was shaking, tears streaming down now dark black eyes. Tears she never knew she had.
Even after losing her powers, after Genosha, after everything, the only thing she really cared about was Oliver’s safety. If he had died right there on that island she would have had no problem destroying that island and herself in the process. Not that she knew what she was doing, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
 

[Griselda Banks]

Oliver started up when Anna got out of bed, wanting to make her lie back down but stopped by the pain from his wound. In the end, all he could do was catch her as she collapsed against him. He wrapped his arms around her, hoisting her up a little farther and making room beside him on the bed. A lump grew bigger and bigger in his throat as she cried - harder than he'd ever seen her cry in all the time he'd known her.

"Me too," he choked out, tears beginning to well up in his own eyes and fall on the top of her head. "I was really...really scared...."

For a long time, they could do nothing but cry and cling to each other, as they finally started to process all the experiences they'd been through in the past few months. They felt alone in the world, set apart from everyone around them, but they had each other, and that was enough. They were alive, and they were together.... It had to be enough.

Finally, their tears subsided, leaving them lying weakly together on the bed, unable to do anything but lie there and listen to their synchronized breathing. Finally Oliver scrubbed his sleeve across his eyes and let out a shaky sigh. "I don't know what we're going to do," he mumbled, "and I guess we shouldn't make any decision like that too quickly. But I do know one thing." He trailed his fingers through her hair - tangled and oily from days of not washing it, but pretty all the same. "I want to be with you, Anna. I don't have to think very long to know that. If...If that's okay with you, then...whatever we do, I want...to do it...together, okay?" He stammered himself into silence, realizing suddenly how awkward this would turn out to be if she wasn't thinking along the same lines.