Chapter Fifteen

Joe's Note: If you loved how Harmony ended Chapter Fourteen, you're going to adore this chapter. Might wanna put down anything you're drinking, though. Alright, ready? Go!


     Taking a deep breath, Cordelia moved to stand in front of the television with Willow and Michelle, positioning the three of them to be the center of attention. Grabbing her fellow mutants' hands for support, she sent up one last prayer hoping for the best before launching into things. "Okay, we called you guys here because Michelle, Willow, and I have a very important announcement to make."

     "Oh! Oh!" Harmony bounced energetically on the couch, pointing at them wildly. "Lesbian threesome! I knew it! Gwen, you owe me twenty bucks!"

     Cordelia's eyes bugged out and she looked down at her hands, still firmly in Willow and Michelle's grasps, before pulling them free. "What? No! We're mutants!"

     Deflating a bit, Harmony looked them over slowly before offering up another guess. "Lesbian mutants?"

     "No, Harmony. I'm still straight." Well, she was pretty sure she was straight. Except for that whole 'thinking the Smurfette is cute' thing. But Cordelia had no plans to tell Harmony about that one and give the blonde new ammunition.

     Scowling, Harmony reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty, passing it to Gwen. "Damnit. I was so sure, too. You stare at Michelle and Willow, Michelle stares at you, Willow stares at Michelle… which is kinda West Virginia, but whatever makes you happy I guess…"

     Cordelia groaned and reached up to rub her temples. "Harmony. For the last time, there is nothing going on between the three of us, or any combination of the three of us. Incestuous or otherwise. The big secret is that we're mutants. That's it. Honest." And she most definitely did not look at Willow at all. Well, she looked at Willow but she didn't look-look at Willow. Not to mention her look-looking only came when Michelle was blue, so Harmony couldn't have possibly witnessed that.

     "Moving on from the lesbianism Harmony's intent on seeing - not to mention the questions that raises about her own sexuality, if she's trying so hard to see lesbians in our little group…" Harmony let out a squawk of outrage at Janet's accusation, but the diminutive Asian didn't even slow down. "…I figure I'll ask what pretty much all of us are thinking right now. What are your powers?"

     Torn as she was - actions did speak louder than words and all - Cordelia opted against a demonstration. At least for the time being; she'd neglected to bring some small objects and the only source of metal she could feel that wasn't a piercing was a rather heavy piece of modern art that Willow's parents had bought at some point. Lifting a big metal sculpture off the ground and flying it around would probably freak them out in a way that simply hearing the news probably wouldn't. "I'm a magnokine." That just earned her blank looks and she sighed. "I can move metal things with my mind. And fly, but that's an entirely different story."

     After tapping her finger against her chin for a second, Aphrodesia pointed at Cordelia. "Oh! Mutant aunt! And mutant you! Does that mean your mom is a mutant too?" Cordelia blinked; she hadn't expected any of them to make a connection like that. Nodding tentatively, Cordelia waited to see were Aphrodesia was going with this. "And your mom's really pretty just like you are. So did you actually get anything from your dad's side of the family, or did your mom do that whole Virgin Mary thing?"

     "My hair and eyes. Well, now just my eyes." Worried that they might start getting into the particulars of her mother's powers and then from there perhaps trace back another generation of magnokine, Cordelia gestured to Willow. "And so then moving on, since I'm not the only one with a secret to share…"

     Eyes turned to Willow, who looked nervous but raised a hand, balling it into a fist and popping out her claws. "Two in each hand and one in my foot. And evidently I heal fast because I got hurt pretty bad last night and even lost some hair but tada, regular Willow's back today. Except for the little red bunch of hair that regrew; someone will need to help me touch that up. And my senses are better than a normal person's. Which reminds me, Harm? You've been a great friend and all, but from now on can you tone it down a little on the perfume? Maybe stick to just the body wash, or go to a plainer-smelling body wash and wear a little perfume? I can smell you all the way from here and it's not a bad smell as in 'eww you stink' or anything but it's a little overpowering and if it's overpowering from here, can you imagine what it'll be like when I'm right next to you? Like, blurph. All over your new pants or something. And then I'd feel really horrible because I puked on you but it wouldn't be my fault because it's not my fault the smell…"

     "Err, yeah. Sure. Put on less smelly stuff in the morning. Got it." Willow's claws slid back into her hand, the girls letting out little noises of appreciation as the twin wounds immediately healed over, and then all attention shifted to Michelle. Oddly enough, or perhaps not, it was Harmony who noticed something off about the redhead. "Did you get yourself seriously tattooed after you ditched us last night? Because the cute leopard spots… that seems like something that would go better with Willow. You know, because of the claws and all?"

     Cordelia looked over at Michelle, for the first time noticing the odd brownish spots that ran from the redhead's temples, down the sides of her face, and then down her neck to disappear under her t-shirt. What the hell? Blushing, Michelle's eyes narrowed for a moment and the spots faded out of view, her hair then turning the same color as Harmony's - albeit without the roots that needed to be touched up. "Sorry, I was feeling a bit odd this morning. But that was a great way to show you guys my power. I'm a shapeshifter."

     As the blonde leaned forward in her seat, Cordelia could practically see the lightbulb going on in Gwen's head. "That's why you just appeared out of nowhere after Halloween, isn't it? You're not really Willow's cousin. The girl we've been going to class and hanging out with for the last month… that's not what you really look like. It's all a lie." Michelle shook her head slowly and Gwen stared at the redhead intently. "Turn back to normal. I want to see who you are."

     Why did Gwen want to see Michelle blue… oh. She was probably assuming she'd known Michelle under her previous identity too. Well, she was right, not that this little display was going to let her know as much. Michelle nodded and closed her eyes, relaxing her body. Her already short hair grew a bit shorter and brighter red, her skin shifting from pale flesh to blue scales, and then she opened her yellow eyes. Raising both arms over her head, she pirouetted slowly before striking a pose with one hand on her hip. "Tada. This is me. Happy?"

     "Err, no. The blue scales thing is kinda freaky, actually. Can you go back to looking human?" Cordelia shot Gwen a glare for that one that thankfully the blonde didn't notice; Michelle was human even while in Smurfette form, thank you very much. Just a bit different looking. The pout on Michelle's face made it clear that she wasn't any happier with Gwen's opinion of her real form but rather than lash out, she decided to have a bit of fun and shifted herself into Harmony's twin. Harmony let out a squeal and clapped her hands together enthusiastically, but Gwen just rolled her eyes at the display. "I thought I said human?"

     Cordelia winced at Harmony's outraged shriek. Ouch. Burn. As Michelle shifted back into the form she wore out in public, she appeared to think for a moment before eliminating the blonde highlights from her hair and letting her now plain copper locks grow down to the middle of her back. It made sense, Cordelia realized after a second; Michelle had only adopted her shorter style to give her and Willow another difference and now that Willow had switched to a short and spiky hairstyle, that meant long hair could be Michelle's domain for the time being.

     Something about the way Gwen continued to stare at Michelle made Cordelia uneasy but rather than dwell on it for too long, she tried to push on to a new topic. "So. Pizza and movies. Aura, you brought movies, right?" Nodding, the dark-skinned girl reached into her purse and pulled out a trio of slim DVD cases. "Cool. That just leaves pizza. We just need to figure out what we want and call it in, and I'll get a friend to pick it up and pay for it."

     As the girls began to debate the merits of various toppings, Gwen rose from her seat and made a beeline for Michelle. "I need to talk with you." She looked over at Cordelia and Willow before taking the redhead's hand and tugging. "Alone."

     "Err, kay." Michelle left her hand in Gwen's grip, guiding the blonde towards the stairs. Pausing at the bottom, she looked back at Cordelia. "Pizza Hut or CPK?"

     "As if I'm going to eat that greasy mess Pizza Hut claims is food. California Pizza Kitchen, of course."

     "Put me down for a Meat Cravers, then." Harmony let out a snort and Michelle looked over at her. "What? It's the best pizza ever. Italian sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, salami, whatever the heck Capicola ham is…"

     Harmony's twitching lips gave way to outright giggles then. "Meat Cravers? Wow. Okay, I take it back. I was completely wrong when it came to Michelle. She's got to be straight. I mean, with how much she seems to enjoy having meat in her mouth and all…" The others tittered at Harmony's innuendo, the redhead blushing and fleeing up the stairs with Gwen in tow, and Cordelia found herself debating whether or not the cops would be capable of filing assault charges if she did whack Harmony over the head with the Rosenbergs' metal sculpture. It wasn't like her prints would be on it or anything…

     Looking over at the growling Willow, Cordelia gulped. Flying metal sculptures were about to be the least of Harmony's health concerns. Reaching over, she gave the dark-haired girl a gentle nudge, not wanting to spook her and get stabbed for her trouble. "Hey." Willow jumped, the tips of her claws receding back into her hands. "Let's go get some plates and silverware. I know I don't like eating pizza with my hands and I don't think Aura or Janet do either. We can put everything out on the coffee table, call in the order, and start up a movie while we wait."

     The pair retreated into the kitchen, where mother and daughter Frost were waiting for them. Emma's eyes were glowing blue as she stared at the wall, pointed unerringly at where the Cordettes were clustered in the living room. "Gwen suspects and is going to attempt to trick Alexander into revealing the truth; we might need to deal with her before they return. The others are ignorant of that particular facet and are largely accepting of the situation as a whole, although that may be because they're not bright enough to truly grasp what you are and how powerful you are."

     Opening her mouth to defender her friends, Cordelia paused when Harmony's loud voice made its way into the kitchen. "Oh my God, can you imagine what it'd be like to have Michelle's powers? Even if you are blue underneath, no more zits, no more brown roots, and best of all… no cosmetic surgery! I could give myself a flat tummy, better lips, bigger breasts, all with a thought. And then shrink my girls back to normal for gym so I'm not killing myself when I run laps. Ugh. She's so lucky. Her powers are definitely better than Willow and Cordelia's, hands down."

     Cordelia shut her mouth.


     Letting Michelle guide her along, Gwen Ditchik blinked as she was pulled into a room that, while not as girlish as Harmony's unicorn-infested domain, was still undeniably feminine. It was another nail in the coffin of her theory, just like seeing Michelle turn into that blue scaled girl downstairs. But even then, she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew the answer to this particular mystery… that there was more than met the eyes. And while she bowed to Cordelia's will in public to maintain her rank in the hierarchy, courage was much easier in private and so she decided to just go for it. Worst that could happen, she reasoned, would be that she'd embarrass herself horribly and need to apologize a lot. "Hey, Xander. My leg's hurting from a fall at Friday's cheerleading practice. Can I sit on your bed?"

     "Yeah, sure. Are you okay? What happened…" Michelle trailed off as she processed Gwen's entire request and then she paled. "How did you know?"

     Gwen smirked as she flopped back bonelessly onto the bed before rolling onto one side so she could keep an eye on Michelle. Xander. Whoever. "I didn't know, so to speak. I've kinda suspected for a while, suspected even more when you told us your powers, and… well, you kinda just confirmed it for me."

     Groaning, Michelle - it was easier to just keep using that name for now, Gwen decided - brought one hand up to cover her face. "Dial M for Moron."

     "To be fair, it's not all your fault. And I don't think anyone else has figured it out; I'm the exception, Harmony's the rule. But think about it." Raising a hand, Gwen began to tick off the various points of evidence. "Xander Harris disappears - without his best friend Willow even batting an eye - and Michelle Flaherty appears right after. Plus Willow doesn't exactly look at you in a cousinly manner, which is why Harmony was so quick to jump to conclusions. We agreed there was something weird between the two of you but nobody else guess the Xander connection. At least that I know of. And then you told us you were a shapeshifter. That sealed it."

     Michelle let out a sigh, flopping onto the bed next to Gwen and stretching out. The redhead's hip nudged against her and Gwen obligingly moved over to make more room, rolling onto her back as well. "So, how pissed are you at me? For pretending to be a girl and all? And are you going to tell the others?"

     Staring up at the ceiling, Gwen pondered that. How pissed was she, really? It wasn't like Michelle had tried to sneak her way into the Cordettes, Cordelia had dragged her in and was quite obviously in cahoots with the whole Xander-Michelle transformation thing. Unless Michelle had faked her interests, their friendship was genuine. So in the end, really, it boiled down to… "Depends how good a story you have as to why you're wearing jeans, a tank top, and a shrug right now instead of boy clothes?"

     "Long story short? My self-esteem sucked like Harmony on the first date and so when my mutant power kicked in, it decided that since I hated my life, I should be someone other than Xander. Meaning it lets me turn into anyone I want… other than Xander Harris. Well, there are limits and all but we're doing the short version here." Michelle raised her right arm, waving it over Gwen's head so the blonde could watch as the skin turned blue and then back to its normal pale pinkish color. "Since I didn't want to run around blue, I had to pick a new look. Didn't want to be some random boy at the time because it just pissed me off that I couldn't turn into the real me, so I turned into Willow because I had a key to her house and I could get in and borrow some clothes that fit. Cordelia found out about my problem, decided to play Barbie with me, and the next thing I know? I've got a full Michelle wardrobe and cheerleader friends and I'm eating salads every damn day."

     Gwen blinked, looking over at Michelle in disbelief. "…that's the short version?" The redhead nodded. "Wow. And hey, nice shot on Harmony in there. Mind if I use it sometime?"

     Shaking her head, Michelle regarded Gwen warily. "Go for it. But, uh, how good is my story? Does it score high enough to prevent mad Gwenage?"

     "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I think being a girl and all, I wouldn't have had as hard a time stepping into someone else's heels and so I wouldn't have genderbent like you did… but that's on you and I can't judge you for how you felt. And so you made the best of the situation, your friends helped support you, and things have just gotten really complicated." Staring into Michelle's violet eyes, Gwen voiced the question that had been rattling around nervously in her mind for the last few minutes. "If you could turn back into him… like tomorrow you were fixed… would you?" If she could return to being a he, would he abandon them? Did they mean anything to Michelle?

     "To be completely and totally honest? I really don't know."

     "…good enough. For now."