Shadows of the Past *HF* by Shadow

He adjusted his belt, slightly tightening around his strong, masculine physique. With suitcase in hand, Kyle Eccleston walked nervously up the cobbled drive leading to the Red Bishop’s quarters, situated just behind a mass of great oak trees, joining on to the main section of the Inner Circle’s private suites. With a sigh, he rang the bell and waited for the flustered face of Charles Essex, the Red Bishop’s personal aide, to appear at the door. “Master Eccleston!” he shrieked with delight, “it’s so nice to see you again.”

Kyle sniffed loudly, waltzing past the bulky man, and entered the Red Bishop’s office. Steven was sat behind a dominating mahogany table, singing quietly along with the Italian opera that blared from his gramophone.

“Nice to see you, Kyle,” Steven said without looking up from his work. Kyle furrowed his brow. He’d crept so lethargically into the room, how was RKB even aware of his presence? “Don’t be such an idiot,” Steven scoffed jokingly, “I am the world’s most powerful telepath. I knew the minute your plane landed that you were in America. Those security guards upfront gave you a hard time getting in, didn’t they? Probably because you’re no longer Aquapyro.”

Kyle gritted his teeth at the mention of Aquapyro. “No, I’m not,” he said, “Aquapyro died in that car crash. From now on call me Shadow.” Steven looked daggers at Kyle. His mouth opened to say something, but closed forcefully, withdrawing from his speech. Finally Steven broke the uneasy silence. “Welcome home,” he said, shaking Kyle’s hand, leading him into the main Inner Circle building. Kyle surveyed the walls, glancing at everything that littered the teak, panelled walls. Finally, he came tot eh conference room. Inside were the Inner Circle; Red King, Lord Ryan, Red Queen, Lady Charlotte Sometimes, Red Knight, Wolfox stRanger and the speaker, Red Rook; Chastity Darkholme. Kyle and Steven both phased through the doors, startling the members.

“Kyle?” Daemon said, as a toothy grin began to spread across his face, “you’re back!” Charlotte and Ryan exchanged glances with one another, then one with Steven. He’s back Steven said telepathically to the monarch’s looks like he’s ready to re-enter the Club. A wicked smile crept across the triad’s face, as Kyle talked incandescently with Daemon and Chastity.

“Hmm,” Dark Phoenix II almost purred as Kyle walked in the room, pushing his blonde hair behind his ears, away from the frenzy that usually occurred when it hung in his face. The Hellions’ recreation room was buzzing with activity; nobody noticing the dashingly good-looking man entered the room.

“Hey, everyone, guess who’s back!” Draco called, pushing Kyle into the centre of the room. Immediately, all attention was directed towards the eighteen-year-old.

“KYLE!” Ian Fitzroy exclaimed loudly, shaking Kyle’s hand exasperatedly, almost tearing it from its socket. Kyle smiled heartily. It felt good to be home, around all the people he’d left behind to go to China.

“So, Eccles cake,” Dark Phoenix II said, a cunning look sprinkled across her face, “where’ve yer been?” The smile slowly crept away from Kyle’s handsome face, replaced by a look of unsettlement. Extending his index finger on his right hand, Kyle summoned a bolt of green energy, and fired it at a stool that lay unwanted in the corner of the room. It immediately began to dissolve away and re-appeared underneath Kyle, inviting everyone else to sit down.

“Well, after I was nearly killed, I decided I needed a breather. And I went to China, had a great time. Then one day I met this weird old man who was dying by the side of a road. I went over and he stuck this gem to me. It restored my soul that was almost destroyed when RKB and the King brought me back to life. But I found out my powers were gone. But this weird cloaked dude appeared to me in a dream, seriously he did, and showed me I was capable of teleportation, phasing, flight and dark magic. So, I spent a lot of time training and coming to terms with it, and now I’m back at the IHFC, I thought I must come back to my friends.” Everyone smirked, glad their friend had returned.

Steven watched vigilantly; like an Alpha male of a wolf pack, surveying everyone beneath his dominant rule. The Hellions seemed so more much refreshed by the return of Kyle. To be perfectly honest, Steven was over joyed. All his hellions were special to him, but Epyon, Shadow and Ian Fitzroy were different. He’d been their teacher and friend since their early teen days, fostering and guiding them through not only their mutations, but also an active social life. Steven remembered Kyle’s first girlfriend whilst he was in the Inner Circle. Kyle had been Black Rook of the Beverley Hills Club for about a year; and for a sixteen year old he was extremely advanced, clever and charismatic. This girl was head cheerleader at the private school the Inner Circle attended, of course owned by Steven. Kyle was head over heels in love with him. But when they were mugged and Kyle revealed he was a mutant, she departed his life. Kyle was heart broken. It humbled Steven that he was there to ‘nurse’ him back to health. Ian Fitzroy was suing his powers to turn the density of the attacking robot’s legs to paper, to topple the mechanical beast to the ground. Steven had noticed how increasingly laid-back Ian had become since losing his status as Red Rook.
“Your rusty!” Draco said, as he ripped the head off a robot that threatened to puncture a hole through Kyle’s back. Shadow laughed, phasing through several androids, short-circuiting them. Then he used a mixture of teleportation and dark bolts of magic to take out several of the attacking enemy. The he summoned a spell that opened a black hole beneath the surviving mechanical beings. A round of applause came from the observation desk, as RKB materialised in the centre of the hellions. “That was positively excellent!” The Red Bishop declared, “Indeed, it was a treat!” Steven then turned his attention on Kyle. “May I see you in my office after dinner?” With that he Red Bishop teleported away.

The dining room hummed with activity, as members of the General Body filtered in and out of the rooms; talking loudly about business deals and basically enjoying themselves. As per usual, the Inner Circle were dining in their private quarters whilst the hellions mingled with the Club’s members. Marnie Fox stared at Kyle; eyeing him up carefully. She hadn’t seen someone so good looking in a long time. His platinum blonde hair matched perfectly with his crystal blue eyes and his tanned skin.
“I hear duelling is rude,” Wolfox said as he quietly slipped into the chair besides her in the dining room. Marnie ignored him, and fixed her eyes on the soups he’d selected, secretly glancing at the young hellion at every possible moment.
“Hey, dude, I think Marnie’s looking at you!” Spark giggled incandescently. Kyle blushed. “What, Marnie. I don’t think so. She’s way too sophisticated for me.”
Epyon rolled his eyes. “Gosh Kyle, even you aren’t that dumb. She’s staring right at you. Go over there and ask her out.” Kyle smiled heartily, and headed over towards her.
“It’s good to have him back,” Thomas, said to Spark who nodded his head in agreement.

“Greetings Milady,” Gauntlet said, as Chastity walked down the rock stairs, heading towards her secret, underground meeting place. She couldn’t get over just how professional the place looked; all carved and moulded by magic. “Yes, greetings Chastity,” Draco said, slightly annoyed at his sister. Chastity shook her head, and glanced over at dark Phoenix II and Spark. “What’s wrong with my brother?” she sighed, rolling her eyes.
“Well, you’ve kept us here waiting for nearly ten minutes!” Draco shrieked. Chastity just waved her hand and a gag fell over Draco’s mouth, which he quickly dispersed by using his own black magic. “Now we’re graced with your presence, what do you want, dear sister?” Chastity looked sharply at her brother. “It’s something Steven mentioned to me,” Chastity said, rubbing her chin with her delicately manicured index finger, “apparently, when Kyle was in the Beverley Hills Club, he had a bit of a rough time when he went off the straight and narrow. He received a scar from a fight over his left eye. But he soon covered it up with make up and other potions. We can’t see it, but according to Steven, Kyle’s telepathic aura is depicting the scar quite clearly. Which is concerning Steven, because Kyle lost his soul, and only has part of it returned. He’s afraid he’s going to be a good target to anything evil. Therefore, I think we should adopt him into our little ‘group’ where we can keep an eye on him.”
Draco nodded in agreement, as did the other people present.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Kyle asked, as he prised open the Red Bishop’s office door. The gentle trickling of water from his marvellous indoor fountain was audible over the gentle humming of Frank Sinatra. Steven was dressed in a very expensive charcoal black dining suit, finished off with an elegant emerald green tie.
“Ah, yes,” Steven said, inviting Kyle to take a seat adjacent his desk. “I am thoroughly over joyed that you have come back to us safely. But we can’t overlook the your newly acquired powers.” Kyle flinched; not wanting to speak about these, but eh listened carefully to his mentor. “I am concerned about the way you are willing to just come back and forget about everything. I’d like to do the same, but it’s not so simple. You left us without a soul, and now you have the mystical gem of Kroata bonded to you. This gem has restored your humanity, but I am afraid I am not in favour of it. It is dangerous, and I think you should allow me to mystically ‘talk’ to the gem.”
Kyle furrowed his brow. “How do I do that?” he questioned.
Steven smiled. “When you feel some kind of magical sensation inside you, don’t fight it. Just let me in.”
Kyle nodded as Steven’s hands began to fill with purple energy. He broke through every barrier that Kyle’s essence had erected. With a violent jolt of pain, Steven was thrown out of Kyle’s essence. Steven returned to the normal plane, rubbing his head.
”What is it?” Kyle said concurringly, running to Steven’s side. The Red Bishop panted heavily, giving his student a wry smile. “Nothing, you just have a powerful mind!” Steven joked, “now run along or you’ll be late for that date with Marnie.” Kyle laughed loudly. No matter what he’d do, he couldn’t hide anything from Steven. Happily, Kyle walked over to Marnie’s room. Steven quickly grasped a cell phone from his pocket, and dialled in Chastity’s number. “Hello Chastity,” Steven said, almost grumpily into the phone, “can you help me?” The Red Rook giggled. “Here to help!” she finally said, then stopped laughing as she saw Steven appear from thin air into her bedchamber. “I really wish you wouldn’t teleport into my room like that,” she said, placing the telephone back on the receiver, “how can I help you?” Steven twitched nervously; then began to speak. “I saw something in Kyle’s mind that really scared me,” he began, “it seems that the black magic is somewhat dominating his mind. I would really appreciate it if you and Draco kept an eye on him, and tried to train him to use his magic better. My mystical skills are very limited, but you and your brother are a wealth of information. I can entrust him to you can’t I?” Chastity smiled widely.
“You have no concerns,” she said, edging him out of the room. Steven smiled and left for his room. Draco materialised from the shadows. “Our plan worked,” he smiled cruelly, “and it only took a mystical illusion. Now Shadow’s ours!”