But Love Is Overrated Anyways

Chapter 2: But Dan Was Never Quite The Same

Whenever Dan woke up in the morning, he would roll over straight into a puddle of water. There was no leak in the tent, it was simply a side effect of the two opposing temperatures in the small tent. Heat, coming from Phil's side, would meet with the icy chill radiating from under Dan's covers, causing dew drops to form on the top of the tent and therefore create a miniature rain cloud. The first morning they woke up together and found the rain drops, Phil was quite enchanted. He said that it meant Spring was coming early that year. Dan told him his head was full of flowers, and that it was just condensation, but oddly enough, Spring did come early that year.

Predicting the weather was not one of Phil's powers, it was just one of those strange things he was good at. Like remaining unsettlingly happy all the time, or never running out of new songs to sing as they walked. They'd been traveling together for what must have been years, but still Phil would sing.

This annoyed Dan to no end. Dan was more of the quiet, brooding type, who liked spending his free time scowling and destroying human cities. He'd given up on telling Phil to shut up after the first few weeks. Now, no one questioned it anymore, besides the new mutants they got every once in a while.

One of these, a small boy named Nathan, actually would sing along. The pack of mutants tending to lean more towards Dans personality, quiet and angry and vengeful. But every once in a while, a younger mutant would come along and be more like Phil.

Nathan was an interesting boy, and it was very sad when he died. He had had control over thunder, and sometimes he could even control lightning, but it was much more difficult. For example, he could easily summon a growl of Thunder so loud it hurt to listen to, but it took him effort to get enough energy to send a little bolt of static lighting someone's way. Dan would know. He was the primary receiver of those shocks.

And then he'd turn around and find Nathan and Phil laughing quietly at him, Phil with his tongue just barely sticking out of his mouth, and Dan would have to decide whether to smile or to continue being his usual, angry self. It tended to be the latter. But sometimes, he would look away to hide something that almost looked like a grin.

Humans told stories about him, the Great Ice Prince, the cold dwelling mutants who would destroy entire cities out of pure hatred for the entire human race. He was evil, committing genocide wherever he went, and his demeanor was said to be as cold as his powers.

"The Ice Prince," Dan had said when he first heard about the title, pretending not to like it. "It's rediculous. I'm not even royalty."

That lead to some of the younger, newer mutants to come up with all sorts of new nicknames for Dan when they thought he couldn't hear, ranging from 'The Great Ice Prick' to one particularly clever one Phil came up with, 'Frosty the Snowman'.

Phil wasn't a teenager anymore, but he certaintly acted like it sometimes. He always stuck around the back of the group with the newbies, showing them the ropes and making jokes. The only time his smile ever seemed to falter was when someone asked about his powers. Then Dan would have to step in and show the newbie their place with a thin layer of ice that'd spread across their skin and freeze them if they didn't scrape it off quickly. He wasn't very popular among the youngsters, but he didn't care. They needed to know not to cross the line.

Phil wasn't ashamed of his powers persay, he simply didn't like telling people about them. Fire wielders were known for their destructive nature, their smoldering temper. They were cruel, and cared nothing for anyone. At least, that's how they used to be. Fire mutants were all but extinct then.

In the first few days of traveling with the adult mutants, young mutants would learn a lot of new things. They'd learn how to set up their own tent, and check water for contaminates, basically just how to be boy scouts, but they'd also learn more important things. Not to upset Dan. That Phil would care for them, but mostly no one else would. That if they upset Phil, his mystery powers wouldn't be the ones endangering their lives, but Dan's powers definitely would.

It was always nice finding newbies, though it happened so rarely. Most of the adult mutants had been eradicated from the planet, save for a few in hiding and Dan and Phils group. So most of the newbies were teens- ones who were alive when the world decided they hated mutants, but who's powers didn't develop until later.

It was always sad when they died. Even Dan might shed a tear in private, when he knew no one could see. It was unfortunate, but it happened. Accidents. Kidnappings. If a human kidnapped you, you'd be better off dead. And one very tragic time, near the beginning, when Dan had lost control of his powers and unintentionally killed one of the others. It was an accident, but Dan was never quite the same.