UPS AND DOWNS
written by
Richard 'Kurogo' Palmer

Warning: This Fan-fiction deals with mature matters such as substance abuse, profanity and violence.

Massachusetts Academy, Thursday afternoon.

 

"Have you noticed it?" Christina said as she and Jubilee were leaving class that afternoon. It was nearing the end of the week; She and Kevin had been back at the Academy for two weeks now. Christina had even moved back into the same cave that she had chosen to live in when she first came to the academy. To everyone else things appeared normal, but Christina was more attune to the subtleties.

"Noticed what?"

"Kevin?" Christy said as her ears twitched, "He's been acting different ever since he got back from Las Vegas."

"I think you're imagining things." Jubilee replied.

"No I'm serious he's been much quieter than he usually is." Christina continued, "And it's not just him its Monet too."

Jubilee stopped and looked at her friend, "What?… you don't think… not him and Monet?" Christina just looked at her, not wanting to admit it herself, "C'mon, they're friends but seriously, Kevin and Monet?"

Kevin walked past them down the hall and Christina turned towards him nervously, "Hi." She said trying to smile.

"Hi." Kevin responded. "Do you want to grab a coffee later?"

"Sure."

"Cool." Kevin said and then he walked off.

"Oh yeah, something's definitely up." Jubilee said sarcastically.

"I suppose I shouldn't expect you to notice." Christina said. Jubilee looked at her questioningly, "You can't smell it."

Jubilee placed her arms around Balam's shoulder and lead her down the hall, "Now don't jump to any conclusions. It could be anything!"

"Maybe." Christy said. Just then Monet passed the two. Although she kept her nose in the air as she passed, her eyes watched Christy nervously. "Maybe not."

 

            Kevin poked around in the fridge, moving aside random bottles and cartons. Finally he stood up and sighed. He shut the door and pulled a post it note from a nearby drawer. He stuck it on the fridge and wrote, "Stop stealing my beer, I know who you are. KD" he smiled and turned to leave the kitchen, Christy was standing there in the doorway. Kevin almost jumped back, "Jesus!" he said, "You scared me!"

            "What happened Kevin?" She asked.

            "What?"

            "In Vegas, Kevin." She repeated, "What happened?"

            Kevin walked past her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

            "Oh, please." Christina said, "Don't lie to me."

            "I'm not lying!" Kevin said defensively as he headed towards the stairs.

            "Once again, you're lying." She said, following him, "I would know. I can smell it."

            "This is ridiculous." Kevin said continuing up the stairs, "I didn't do anything!"

            "Kevin, don't do this to me!" Christina demanded. Kevin reached the third floor and walked down the hallway as Christy followed him, "Is this what our relationship is about now? Keeping secrets from each other?"

            "No!" Kevin said turning to her, but still heading down the hallway.

            "Then why won't you tell me what you went to Vegas for?"

            Kevin stopped and sighed, "I can't." he said. Christy put her hands on her hips, "Look it has nothing to do with you." Kevin looked around and then spoke again in a lower tone; "This is just a part of my past I don't want anybody to know about… ever."

            "And you can't even tell me?"

            "No, that's different." Kevin said, "look it's just… you wouldn't understand…"

            "Try me."

Kevin sighed, defeated, "Okay," he said. He leaned towards her and whispered, "Before I met you," he said, "before the Oddities, before Asylum 7, before any of that…" Kevin paused for a second and looked around, "I was involved with the Las Vegas Mafia."

Christina looked at him as he finished; "the Mafia?" she said questioningly, "Is that a Restaurant chain?"

"No!" Kevin said, "You see this is what I'm talking about! You've lead a different life than everyone else here at the school. You don't know about these types of things. These underhanded parts of society are completely alien to you…That's what I like about you… don't fix it if it don't need to be fixed. You see what I'm saying?"

Christina smiled weakly, "Thanks." she said. Kevin smiled too; he turned and began to head back down the hallway. "Kevin?" Christina called as she began to follow him. Kevin stopped with his hand on the door at the end of the hall. "What exactly did you mean when you said you didn't do anything?"

"Oh that." Kevin said, "That was nothing."

"Well, if it's nothing just tell me."

"No really it's just…"

"Just tell me!" Christian said, her eyes growing serious.

Kevin sighed and then looked at her and smiled, "Okay, okay I'll tell you and… well you're going to laugh, really." Kevin held his hand to his chin thinking the best way to handle this land mine, "It was like this, Monet was down there helping me with this thing with Mafia, alright?" Christina nodded. "And it came to a point where I had to save her ass, okay?" again Christina nodded, "Well, in all the chaos… we… sorta… kissed." Kevin said, saying the last part as quietly as he could.

"What!?" Christina said as Kevin opened the door and entered the room.

"Yes, me and Monet kissed! It was a spur of the moment thing! It's not that big a deal!"

"Um… Excuse me?" Kevin and Christy turned. Angelo and Jonothan were already in the room. Skin had a beer in his hand and, along with Chamber, was staring at Kevin in surprise.

"Hi." Kevin said, his voice threaded with angry sarcasm.

"You kissed her?"

"Oh, come on!" Kevin pleaded. "It didn't mean anything!"

"Please, Kevin, you're making a scene." Christina said quietly, looking over at Angelo and Jonothan. Skin and Chamber looked at each other; unsure they should stick around. Cautiously they began to move towards the door.

"You know it didn't mean anything. You're my woman not her."

"What was that?" Christina said.

"Uh-oh." Angelo said his eyes growing wide.

"Er, what I mean is…"

"Is that what I am to you, a possession?"

"Of course not, all what I meant was…"

"That is what you think, isn't it?" Christina said, "it all makes sense now. These last few months, as I kept asking you, even begging you, that we should come back here to the academy, you didn't. And why? Was it because I was some sort of trophy? Someone to show off to your biker buddies?"

"Now that's just insulting!" Kevin said getting defensive, "I had my own reasons for staying away from the academy. And those reasons eventually got serious enough that I had to go to Las Vegas to take care of them."

"That's another thing, just what were you really doing in Las Vegas? Explain it to me." Christina asked, her hands on her hips. Kevin didn't respond. He stood there looking back at her, maintaining a poker face. "Well, then. What was your reason for asking Monet to join you? Why couldn't you have just asked me to come along? Can you tell me that at least?" Kevin continued to look at her, continuing the poker face. "And when were you planning on telling me about the kiss?"

"Obviously never." Kevin said under his breath.

"What was that!?!"

"What I meant was, it didn't mean anything! Why make a big deal about it?!" Sequel waited a moment while Balam glared at him; "I still don't see why you're getting so worked up about it!"

"Why am I getting so worked up about it?" Christina stammered, "You ask Monet out on a secret rendezvous, I find out later you two were kissing and I'm supposed to act like it's no big deal!?!"

"That's not it at all!"

"Really?" Christy said, "Then how is it?"

Sequel stood. His mouth wide open looking for the words.

"Fine," Christina said as tears started to form in her eyes, "Then I guess we're through."

Kevin maintained his poker face; "You can't do that." He responded

"Kevin, in case you didn't notice, You don't control my life. I can make my own decisions and I can survive on my own, I've been doing it for a lot longer than you." Christina then turned and left the room.

"Fine!" Kevin yelled, "Fine, we're over then! Finito! Through! See if I care!" Kevin slammed the door after her and then bolted towards the window. As he opened the third story window Skin dove at him using his powers to grab Kevin and pull him away from the window. "No! Let me go!"

"Come on Vato!" Skin said pulling him back in the room, "Don't go loco on us now!"

"Fine," Kevin said, stopping his struggling, he began to walk towards the door, "I can handle this like a man. It's not like this is the end of my life… just the end of all of them!" Kevin dove for the window again and Skin and Chamber dove at him wrestling him from the windowsill.

______________

 

"Christy!" Jubilee called as she ran up to her friend in the halls, "Is it true? About you and Kevin?"

"Yes, It's over. It's not going anywhere. I've had it with Mr.Toughguy!" Christina said rather defensively. She turned to Jubilee, "I mean can you imagine the gall, Having his fun in Vegas with the million dollar egotist, and then having the nerve to assume I'm stupid enough not to see what's going on!

"I think you may be reading too much into this." Jubilee said, "Kevin said the kiss was an accident…"

"Oh god, does everybody know, now?!" Christina fumed.

There was silence for a moment before Paige spoke up, "Well, Kevin explained it was all a misunderstanding, and I, for one, believe him.

"Whether I buy that or not isn't the issue here." Christina spoke up; "There's a deeper problem here." Paige and Jubilee looked at Christina questioningly, "To my face even, he refers to me as 'his' girl! What does that say about our relationship?"

"I think you're over…" Paige began.

"Kevin hasn't been treating me like he used to at all. Kevin used to make me feel special, like he wanted my company. But lately it's… oh god, I swear you humans are so screwed up!"

"Well, what exactly does he do?"

"Well, he's been very overprotective. Every time I've tried to talk to somebody he comes up and acts all tough till they back off. He doesn't listen to me. It's like I'm only there for show."

"Christy, I know Kevin cares about you very much." Paige said trying to console her, "I've seen it. Maybe he's just been having trouble readjusting to life. You know it was almost a month before he came back to life from our fight with Canon."

Christina stopped and looked at Paige, "When we were in Nevada, he treated me as an equal. Hell, he respected my opinions about the missions even though I knew much less than anybody about how human society works. I've been hoping he's eventually show me that kind of equality again and, barring a few occasions, he's been protecting me like a lion protects its cubs. I don't need mothering, Paige I've had to grow up a lot faster than most everybody here at this school, even before I found out I was a mutant."

Paige starred back, startled a bit. "I just think you're being a little too harsh on him."

"I'm sorry Paige, how awfully rude of me." Christina said flatly, "Oh by the way, how are you and Jono doing."

"That was low. My love life is my own business." Paige muttered under her breath, so much so she didn't expect anyone to hear it.

"So is mine." Christina replied as she continued on to class.

Jubilee shook her head and then wondered aloud, "Anyway, speaking of Kevin, where has he been the past three days?"

"He's been in his room, probably getting drunk. Hoping this will all just blow over I'm sure." Christina Replied, "Can we change the subject?"

______________

 

Jono walked out of Kevin's room and Shook his head, ::He's no' sayin' a thing. I've never seen him this bad.::

Skin sighed, "I guess I better take a crack at it then."

"Hold on Angelo," Synch said, "Let me have a try first."

"Everett, No offense but you two hardly knew each other." Skin said.

"I know, just let me give it a shot." Everett replied. Skin nodded and Everett entered the room.

He walked up to Kevin's bed. Kevin was flopped across the mattress still in full biker attire; he even had his helmet within easy reach. Kevin looked up, "So you heard huh?" Kevin situated himself so he was sitting up. He took another swig of what smelled like whiskey and he said, "Women can't live with them."

Synch waited for the rest of the statement, "Can't live without them?" he offered.

"I wouldn't know about that part." Kevin replied.

Everett sat down on a chair opposite the bed, "Kevin, correct me if I'm wrong, But Christina's the reason you came to the academy in the first place?"

"It's called a joke, Boyscout." Kevin said as he took another sip. Everett just gave him a funny look. "You know a joke? Ha Ha?"

"No it's not that, It's just you referred to me as Boyscout?"

"Yeah? So? So what?"

"Well it's just that when you were here at the academy before you had a nickname for just about everybody else in the school, Monet was Money, Jubilee was Lightshow, You called Mr. Cassidy Irish…"

"Yeah that one had double significance, y'know that's a street term for cop?"

Everett nodded, "The thing is you never came up with one for me, I sort of felt left out. I mean we were friends but it wasn't the same sort of friendships you formed with Angelo and Jono. It was like we were friends just cause we shared the same school." Everett sighed, "Anyway what I'm trying to say is it kinda shocked me when you died after we defeated Canon, I mean everybody thought that was it, we were never going to see you again. I felt like I missed the chance to get to know you like Angelo and Jono did."

"Well," Kevin said as he set down the Bottle, "What do ya wanna know?"

"I just wanna know if there's anything I can do to help. Maybe we could go have a night on the town to get your mind off of it."

"Well, you'll have to give me a few days to order some fake ID's for you from my usual source."
            Everett shook his head; "I don't drink."

"Then I'll drink for both of us." Kevin grinned as he took another shot of whiskey. "You know some times I think I'm cursed. In the course of a month I've lost one of my best friends… again, and I've lost Christy… again." he looked at Everett, "You know what that's like?" Everett shook his head. Kevin stood up, "Well, I can tell you from experience it's worse than dying." He walked over to the corner of the room and pulled his cigarettes from the pocket of his jacket that was hanging on a chair. "You know you'd think that after all the times I've died the pain would all just stop eventually. That some day it just wouldn't mean anything anymore. Let me tell you, it all hurts. And it never goes away."

"Wow," Everett said, Kevin had never opened up to him like this before. He wasn't sure if he'd ever opened up like this to anybody, "So how do you deal with it?"

"I drink." Kevin replied flatly as he took another sip of whiskey.

"What?" Everett replied.

"No, I'm serious. I drink a lot. And people keep telling me that a guy with my background really should stop… but whadda they know." Kevin grinned. He flopped back and muttered, "I never meant to hurt her, you know that. Doncha, Boyscout?"

Everett nodded, sympathetically.

"I thought I'd lost her before." He continued, "Well, I damn sure lost her now."

______________

 

That evening, Kevin walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He reached for a beer can in the back of the fridge and then hesitated. He closed the refrigerator door and looked at the coffeemaker.

 

Kevin poured himself a cup of coffee and turned to leave the kitchen when he saw Christy in the doorway. "I… I just came in for a glass of milk…" she stammered. Kevin nodded. He began to leave the kitchen as she headed towards the fridge. Then Kevin turned and said, "For the record, I'm sorry." He said, "I should have told you as soon as I came back, and I'll admit I've been a bit controlling. I don't expect that to make up for anything. But, I'm sorry."

"Kevin…" Christy started, "I'm sorry, I… may have overreacted… it's just…"

"Look, it's fine. It's just something we need to work on." Kevin said. Christy stared back at him. "Oh. I see." He said.

"Kevin, I…"

"No, don't say anything." Kevin said, "I knew it the moment it happened… it's over… and it's my own damn fault."

"Kevin… I hope we can still be friends…"

Kevin nodded. "You know I'm not going to remember any of this tomorrow."

"Maybe that's for the best." Christina replied. Kevin placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Take Care." He said. Then he turned and stumbled towards the stairwell.

______________

 

The tall man sat back, puffing on a cigar. Across the room sat Emplate. At another time these two might have feared each other. Emplate's powers allowed him to feed off of other mutants, young mutants like the man with the cigar. But the suit this man wore offered protection against a power such as Emplate's.

            As for Emplate, he might have feared the man with the cigar at one point in his life for what he was. What he was was sick, His expertise was hurting people, and in ways even Emplate couldn't imagine. He went by the name Dio, and his motto was 'if a man has a soul, and sometimes even if they don't, it can be broken.'

            "Fifty thousand. That's a set offer, non negotiable." Dio said as he puffed away, smiling.

            "I have no problem with that." Emplate's voice scratched, "but there will be complications…"

            "I'm a professional, there are always complications," Dio said as he stood up, "and I always handle them. I want the money transferred in these Swiss accounts by tomorrow, if it's not there than I scratch the job."

"You drive a hard bargain," Emplate replied, "And If I wasn't already aware of your reputation, I might say you were overly confidant, a madman, or just plain stupid."

"Several other's have made that mistake," Dio grinned. He held his hand up and a long purple energy blade flashed out, "and I enjoyed proving them wrong."

 

To be continued…

________________________________________________________________________

The legal stuff: The Characters from Generation X and the concept of Mutants and are a product of Marvel comics and it's employees and are used without permission. Christina Laine is based off of the Samurai Spirits character Cham-Cham, Beyond that she's a character of my own creation. Kevin Dallas is a character of my own creation, all rights reserved.

 

Life is like a box of chocolates… a cheap, thoughtless perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. So you're stuck with this undefinable whipped-mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while there's a peanut-butter cup or an English toffee but they're gone too fast and the taste is fleeting. So you end with nothing but broken bits filled with hardened jelly and teeth shattering nuts. If you're desperate enough to eat those all you've got left is a ... is an empty box filled with useless brown paper wrappers. - "the X-files"