X-Men: The Falcon (Book One)

Acceptance

"Daniella!"

My body rocked back and forth. I felt a hard pressing force on my chest and my lungs tightened.

"Daniella!" the voice shouts again.

Something covers my mouth and air is pushed into my lungs. This time, I'm able to cough up the water. For a moment I layed there and then, my eyes opened. I saw nothing but a gray haze. Tiny smudges of color are also in the picture. I blinked away the smudges and saw Warren's face.

"Warren?" I asked confused. My throat felt constricted and my entire body was menacingly cold.

He nodded and pushed my hair away from my face. His hand was like fire against my ice cold skin. He was sopping wet and we both smelled like the sea.

"Warren how did we get here?" I asked and looked around. We were on a rocky beach somewhere. The air was chilly and and I shivered in response.

"You fell. I saw you falling and I tried catching you but you fell straight into the water."

"And you got me out." It wasn't a question.

He nodded again. "Are you okay?"

My head was throbbing and it hurt to breath. Other than that I was fine.

"Can you get up?" He shifted onto his knees.

I furrowed my eyebrows together but I shifted myself onto my elbows. Immediately a searing pain in my head triggered and I collapsed back down on the rough sand.

Warren grabbed me by my legs and my upper back and hoisted me in the air so he could carry me. Feeling embarrassed, I hid my head in his shoulder.

"We're not far off from the school. How do you feel now?"

"Nauseous," I said and tried not to note the swinging motion of him walking.

"Just breathe slowly."

I slowed my breathing to a calm tempo. As we walked, I couldn't help noticing how warm he was. Kitty was right, he was very handsome. I mentally shook my head. What was I thinking? He was a friend. Still, the way his hair fell into his eyes in a curly fashion was kind of cute. I was surprised by how he could carry my weight too.

He saw my expression and smirked. "What?"

 "Nothing." I blushed deeply and looked away.

He shook his head. "You can tell me."

"No, it's okay." I straightened my gaze forward.

My nausea disappeared and I concentrated on the beating of his heart. It wasn't strained, it was a slow rhythm. Suddenly, a mix of pounding and his heartbeat sounded. Footsteps were emerging from a distance and I turned my head to see people running towards us. I recognized the faces of Ororo and Kitty.

"What happened?" Ororo asked as she walked beside Warren.

"Let's talk later. I've got to get her inside."

 Ororo nodded.

Kitty looked at me disdainfully. "Are you alright Daniella?"

I nodded my head meekly. We soon arrived at the building and strangley my nausea came back. I felt like throwing up all of the contents of my stomach when Warren set me down on a couch. The air was still and warm and that was only making my nausea worse.

"I need a bucket," I said.

I heard a clattering noise and something was shoved into my hands. My stomach convulsed and I threw up.