Dance or Die: a Fanfiction

Chapter 4 - Late Night

Najat and Derek both couldn't sleep on the fourth night the five were stuck in the warehouse. By stuck, they were literally snowed in, a large, growing, white mound almost completely blocking the only doorway that led outside. It was proposed they use their own bio-radiation to melt it, but it was so cold that they decided to preserve it for warmth. The one who fared the worst in the temperature was Derek, who frequently borrowed someone else's jacket to put over his own. The other four carried on as if the frigid weather was nothing, and often left their own jackets off. Derek wondered and assumed they were probably hardier beings than humans.

On that night, they couldn't sleep for very different reasons. Derek's thoughts were troubling him, meanwhile Najat was too wound up and hyper to rest. Being disturbed by the dark, Derek tried to keep the overhead lights on, but the others protested against this, thus leaving them in the blackness.

The only light was from whatever antics Najat was up to. Bright orange streaks zipped through the air and briefly illuminated the area where Derek was thinking. He was certain he was thinking too much, sitting hunched over on the cold floor. He kept his back turned to the other, wanting to avoid conversation. After a little while, he heard footsteps approaching. His heart began pounding in anxiety, but he was determined to face Najat without looking scared for his life. He felt someone come closer and just barely saw an obscure blackness squat to his level. A tiny orange flicker, generated by a snap of a finger, lit up the face of Najat, his right hand holding the flame-like, moving light. His arms were uncovered, as he was wearing the red cutoff shirt he usually wore. In his other arm, he held his white and red jacket.

"You alright?" he whispered. Derek stared blankly at him. After a short silence, he continued, "I don't think you're alright."

"What makes you think that?"

"I think sitting alone on the ground in the middle of the night is enough to say something's not alright," It was as if Derek's mind had been read. Thus he told him how he felt. He judged himself a freak, at least in the nature of man. He didn't feel human, and he was afraid of people he knew abandoning him or handing him over to authorities.

"To be honest, I remember reading in some science fiction books about how aliens and mutants were experimented on, and I'm kind of scared that could happen to me, or any of us," Derek laughed nervously. Najat let a breath escape his nose in a silent laugh and a smile at the comment, amused for a second but soon returned to his somber, listening expression, dark eyes trained on him.

"Why don't I teach you a few things, 'tricks' you could call them?" Derek looked at him, confused, before he said, "Maybe knowing how to handle the radiation would make you feel less... I dunno. It'd take your mind off of things."

The silence that followed made the warehouse seem much more empty than before.

Najat assumed a standing position and extinguished the small light, Derek reluctantly following his motion. He was led away from where Tephe, Siron, and Rulefe were sleeping to a far corner of the warehouse. Another larger orange ball was ignited, casting an ominous shadow onto the bearer's facial features. He threw his jacket off to the side, carefully set the glowing orb by his feet, and spoke.

"I hate to sound strict, but that-" he pointed at the light on the floor, "-is something to not be wasted. We usually don't let amounts of the radiation away from our bodies for long, because it will disperse and we can lose it all if we're not careful. We can 'recharge,' as you would say, but in Earth time it takes years for a decent amount to return."

Derek nodded understandingly. Najat, still standing, reached towards the ball, which levitated to his hands, trails and wisps of the unearthly radiation encircling the small globe and his hands.

"Two more warnings; this stuff can kill anything, easy. On Nillites like me, it has to be in a specific way, but anything else, including humans, they'd die either instantly or of whatever harm this causes," Derek's eyes widened, averting his gaze in surprise and fear for a second until the bearer of the orange light continued to talk.

"Also, stay away from electricity. It messes with the bio-radiation and wastes it away." Derek nodded.

"So what's this trick you wanted to show me?" he said, curious.

"It's not so much a trick as it is a basic," Najat responded, "It's forming a ball in your hand, like the one I have."

Derek nodded again. 'Anything to get my mind off of things,' he thought. The orange light disappeared yet again, the blackness of night returning upon them. A voice came out of the dark.

"Put your hand out a little- not too far, though- palm facing up."

He did so.

"Now focus on getting some of the radiation there. Imagine you want to hold something."

He focused his mind on what was said to be done. In a moment, a rich blue outline of his hand was glowing slightly, and he could see some of the blood vessels beneath his skin pulsing with the unnatural color. Frowning a little, he concentrated more on forming a shape. The surge of willpower succeeded in creating a tiny sparkle of blue that whirled out of his hand. The surreality of seeing this made him wonder if he had actually fallen asleep and was now dreaming. Yet more thin wisps of blue joined the spark, soon making a bright, shining ball that could fit neatly into his palm. From the wavering blue glimmer, he could see Najat smiling at him.

"Awesome," Najat said, forming his own spark in a split-second, "It gets easier the more you do it. I'll teach you a couple more things," He then taught Derek how to levitate the ball and throw it around. After that, they separated again for a while, Najat up to something and Derek perfecting his technique until he had it down fairly well.

Some time passed before Derek felt an ominous hand touch his shoulder. Quickly turning and taking a defensive pose, he formed a small spark of blue as quickly as he could to reveal the person, whom was Najat.

"Nice job," Najat commented with an approving yet sly smile.

"Could you- please don't scare me like that!" Derek replied. The other nodded in respect before speaking again.

"Watch this."

Najat walked backwards several steps, away from the corner and out of the reach of the blue light, which Derek put out soon after he realized this. The man stood still for a moment before his skin emanated a dull orange glow, making him visible in the darkness. He squatted slightly, then in a flash sprang backwards in a flip, landed on his left foot, did another backflip, then landed on his right foot. From the distance he was at, his eyes were once again the vibrant globes Derek had first seen out in the blizzard, and he grinned with a childlike pride. He put his other foot down, diminished the glow of his skin, making the orbs of his eyes seem to disappear, and walked back to the corner.

"That's not the best I can do, but it's kinda cool."

"Well, I don't personally know many people who can do consecutive flips like that," Derek said, "let alone anyone who can glow in the dark too."

They both quietly chuckled, which transitioned into another, shorter, more relaxed silence.

"I think we should sleep," Derek blurted. Najat agreed with him, started off to pick up the jacket he had thrown, and put it on as the two walked over to those who were fast asleep on the concrete floor. They soon drifted off as well.