It was a new world for Marisol, but the excitement was undeniable. There were chants, songs, and an ever-present energy buzzing through the crowd. It was still an intimidating atmosphere for a natural introvert like Marisol, but she could see why Celeste felt so in her element when everything came together in such an impressive way.

The other organizers were nice and handled Marisol’s nervousness in stride. Marisol wondered if Celeste gave them a heads up about her awkward friend, so they were ready for her lack of social graces as well as her adapted powers. If she did, Marisol would not blame her; she would rather have the excuse precede her so everyone could shrug off when she stumbled through a sentence or mentally grasped for a good way to phrase a comment. No one seemed bothered by her, which was nice.

It also did not last long into the march, as a man with roughly a foot of height on Marisol moved up to the front of the group. At first, it seemed like he might be happy; maybe someone commending the organizers for their hard work. Quickly, they found out he was far from happy. His powers were not working and he was pissed.

Marisol’s heart was pounding against her ribs; it felt like the exact nightmare scenario she worried about when she agreed to come to the event. After contemplating keeping her mouth shut, she realized the man would only get louder if he did not receive an answer. She had a power and she had to own it. ”Excuse me,” she squeaked, sticking close to Celeste, unintentionally hiding behind her with their positioning. ”I’m really sorry. That’s me. I’m like an off-switch. I’m sorry. If you stay at least six feet away, your powers should come back fine. I’m so, so sorry.” Her voice was high and shaky and her pace of speech was quick, but she managed to get words out, which was a start. She hoped the man would accept her apology—apologies and move away.

She was so excited, she couldn’t believe it. The turn out was astounding – it was remarkable that so many people actually even showed up. They were maybe even going to exceed the MyFace page attending thingy. Celeste was going to have to add this to her resume. Actually, that would probably be a bad idea. Mutant, a protest, etc? Wrong employer and they’d probably try to get her 

She bit her nails, deep in thought for a moment. It seemed like Mari and the organizers were fine and even though they knew Mari would turn their powers off, they considered her a mutant in themselves. After all, there was probably an X-Gene that actually did turn powers off. Kind of like what Jude could do. Granted, he had all sorts of other stuff he could do but the premise was the same, after all. 

Celeste stomach dropped once the guy came over and his rage didn’t really get contained easily, “What do you mean you’re an off switch? Why don’t you turn YOUR powers off? Lady, this is a mutant gathering – don’t you think people—“

Celeste cut him off there, “Dude, chill out. Stay about six feet away and you’re going to be fine. Her ability is constantly on - she has no way to turn it off.You don’t have to be up on her like that, anyways.” She could totally turn this around on him if she wanted too and it would totally work. Six feet, while sounded far, was actually fairly close. 

The man seemed to chill out but Celeste wasn’t entirely sure, so she cautiously began to move in front of Marisol.

Everything was going so well, Marisol should have seen the harsh turnabout coming. She was an outsider; not quite a human, not a mutant, but part of a population far smaller than either. Just like humans saw mutants as a threat, the mutants would see her as a danger to their existence. It was a lot to hang on the head of a seventeen-year-old drama student.

The man did not like the idea of an off switch for mutants being part of his group and Marisol was almost ready to bow out to avoid the conflict, but Celeste stepped in to protect and defend her. Marisol was behind her friend, clinging tightly to Celeste’s arm like it was the only thing keeping her safe.

With her powers outed as “always on,” the guy was still grumpy, but he held his tongue for the moment, glaring at the little adapted. Marisol felt the need to say something, despite her nerves. ”I’m s-sorry I can’t turn it off, b-but I want to be here supporting the cause. I’ll try to stay further ahead.”

The tension was thick in the air, but the man eventually fell back into the group, muttering, “Freaking weirdo,” before escaping Mari’s six-foot field.

Marisol could still feel herself shaking, but she loosened her grip on Celeste’s arm as they took a few quick steps to return to the front of the pack. ”Thank you for looking out for me. Are you sure I should still stick around, though? I don’t want to make more problems for you.”

Celeste relaxed as she saw the guy call her a weirdo and move on, leaving her six-foot field and then shooting his colors out of his arms again. "F*cking d*uchenozzle," she muttered under her breath. She put her hand on Mari's arm and gave her an encouraging squeeze, "You okay?" 

She shook her head, "You're fine - most people don't understand. If anyone says anything again, I'm just going to say it again. I mean, it's basically a mutation itself." She shrugged and let go of Mari's arm.

From there, the march took them to the front of city hall where a platform had been set up for the speaking and yikes! Her own. She wasn't sure if she could do it honestly. The organizers, including Mari, were ushered up towards the front. She glanced over her shoulder to see several counter protestors forming right next to them. It was a surprisingly large, albeit small in the context of the hundreds of marchers.

They were yelling, with their bigotted signs. Several marchers were screaming back at them and the organizers ignored it, but Celeste bit her nails as she watched the 'Death to Mutants', 'Put 'em in the Camps!' 'Make Camps Great Again!' slogans. They were really close to them, it had to be dangerous. Where was the police, anyway? Wasn't there suppose to be some type of blockade? The two groups were nearly on top of each other. 

Mari was not defenseless; her mother was not going to allow her to move to New York without some basic self-defense courses. If she was ever in a situation where she had to take care of herself, she hoped those lessons would be worth something, but she was in no rush to use them. The man could not access his powers, but he was still larger and angry. Even worse, whether or not she defended herself, she ran the risk of causing a problem for Celeste during her first march.

Fortunately, luck was on her side and the guy decided she was not worth the effort. Celeste, like the true-blue friend she was, backed Marisol up and provided a reassuring arm squeeze as a reminder. It did a lot to calm the rattled Adapted down. ”I think I’m okay. I guess I’ll just make sure to stick by my own personal hero,” she added with a weak chuckle.

The rest of the marching put Marisol in a better mood. No one picked a fight with her after the first guy and the crowd’s energy was still electric. The whole affair was getting everyone primed to cheer for some speeches, including one from Celeste, (hopefully.)

When they arrived at the platform, Marisol was disappointed to see counter-protestors gathering already. She knew they were inevitable, but it was still disappointing to see so many people standing against the mutant cause. Marisol tried to remember that many people were still scared or uncertain or just thought mutations changed the game too much to ignore. Still, with some of the signs in the crowd, it was a sobering reminder that, while not everyone might have been there with ill-intent, there was plenty of hate around.

What made things worse was the seeming lack of boundaries keeping mutant protestors and human counter-protestors from jawing and yelling. It felt tense, like a single match could light up a powder keg.

As luck would have it, the man who was, minutes earlier, yelling at Marisol was at the front of the line. Several feet out of Marisol’s zone, he was finally able to show off what his power was when his arm ignited, becoming flame. He was literally the metaphorical match.

That was not good! Marisol remembered when the sprawling, general march was initially set off due to harsher punishments on mutant violent crimes. The counter-protestors were in the wrong, but if a hot-head mutant could be baited into kicking off an honest-to-goodness riot, it would undo so much hard work from so many activists and politicians, Celeste included. That was not even factoring in the amount of mutant and human injury that would be sure to follow. If things got worse, it would be a disaster waiting to happen!

The electricity of the crowd and the heat of the moment spurred Marisol forward and, before she realized it, she ran from the relative safety of Celeste’s side and jumped between the two lines. The angry flame mutant stopped when he realized his fire went out, but he was not the only one. Other mutants around him ceased their shouting when they realized their mutations were muted. The humans on the other side were equally confused about the sudden cessation of yelling and mutant peacocking.

It was an awkward standstill as everyone figured out what was going on, but it was not going to last. Both sides were only going to get angrier, especially if the mutants felt like Mari was taking away their ability to defend themselves. The window of time she bought was shrinking, but Mari had no plan beyond throwing herself into the fray. She stood there, frozen and panicked, realizing at any moment that she might be caught in the eye of the hurricane if someone did not step in.

Celeste was busy chatting with one of the other organizers about how to deal with the counter protestors. It was heating up quickly and it made Celeste a bit nervous. If a riot broke out, this could set off several anti-mutant laws even in the accepting city of New York. There was too many mutants, too many humans. It seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Although, the unthinkable happened as Celeste was chatting with Genette about the situation as she saw Marisol dive into the mutants as one of them began to light his arm up like a match. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Celeste yelled at Genette to call the police, but no META bots. She dove quickly after Marisol – Celeste couldn’t live with herself if something happened to Marisol. Not to mention, what would she tell her uncle? Her mother? Oh God! 

Poor Marisol was frozen as most of the individuals were. At least it got very quiet, very quickly. Celeste didn’t realize they had already attached a small microphone to her dress for her upcoming speech. It was also already on, so everyone could hear her. 

The mutant’s confusion was turning into anger as they stared at her and the humans seemed like they really didn’t know what to do. How could she turn their powers off like that? Celeste knew she had to stall long enough for the police to come to put a barrier up. That hopefully wouldn’t take too long. Celeste quickly threw Mari behind her. She was safer being towards the humans and Celeste being in front of her. 

“Okay everyone, let’s just calm down for a minute. I’m Celestina, one of the organizers. This is my friend, Marisol. She’s an amazing, supportive person of mutant rights. She has a gift, like all of us. It’s important for us to recognize that not only do mutants have special gifts, so do people like Mari, so do humans like these people. Yes, we don’t agree with them – but we are all people. We all deserve rights, including these humans right to protest. There is no reason for violence. We can be the bigger people. Show the world that what we have to say is the better, no, the best way. History will be on our side so long as we stay better, stay above them. Show them that we mean peace.”

The crowd collectively breathed a little bit. The humans stayed quiet and the mutants in Marisol’s range grumbled some but decided to start moving away from the counter protestors. Celeste took a deep breath but then some clapping began in the crowd. Apparently, all that was caught on hot mic. Yikes. 

Mari was terrified. The same thought of, “I’m gonna die,” kept running through her head. What had gotten into her? She was not the girl to throw herself into the heart of a conflict between a bunch of strangers. Her uncle was the hero. Celeste was a hero. She was just a girl; an actress, for goodness sake! The only reason for her to get involved was her powers and she did not even like being a walking mutant blackout. Things were about to turn south, and the mutants and humans were both set to converge on her; the first casualty of an imminent riot.

With the tension looming, Marisol was ready for the worst. And that’s when the most amazing thing happened.

Celeste. Suddenly, Marisol’s best friend was there with her, standing between her and the mob of potentially angry mutants. With everything about to go to hell in a handbasket, she spoke to everyone so eloquently. She appealed to the crowds; mostly to the mutants, but her words reached the humans, as well. She made everyone realize that, if they really wanted to be better than the side they stood against, they had to act like it. It was a war of words and peace spoke volumes.

Every word was piped through the speakers and, in that moment, Marisol was sure Celeste could change the world. The crowds backed away and the swelling of violent energy dissipated. Marisol’s eyes lit up and she wrapped Celeste in a tight embrace. Before she could think or stop herself, she had planted a kiss squarely on Celeste’s cheek.

Pulling back, Marisol looked Celeste in the eyes for a heartbeat as she realized what she just did, but she shook the implications off. Instead, she chose to giggle and smile. ”Celeste, that was incredible. You are incredible.” Finally releasing her friend, Marisol wrapped her arms around her own body nervously. ”After a show like that, a little speech on stage is going to be a cakewalk.” The stage would have its own stresses, but the chances of getting attacked were still slightly smaller than being in the middle of a potential warzone.

Celeste really wasn’t sure what was about to happen – it could go bad or good and Celeste nearly wanted to just close her eyes and hope everything turned out great. Except, it actually did. The crowd started to disperse. They were walking away from each other. They seemed to have started an uneasy peace.

She took a deep breath. It was okay. It didn’t backfire. She even could see several police officers running up with some blockades. It was going to be okay.

The next thing she knew, Marisol was in front of her, eyes wide and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The sudden kiss made Celeste blush but with everything else going on, Celeste didn’t look into it too much. After all, she did just stop a riot from happening, right? Or was that an exaggeration? In either case, she hugged Marisol tightly. 

She laughed nervously as Marisol told her she was incredible and that the speech on the stage would be a cakewalk. She wasn’t so sure and Celeste was still in shock, but she squeezed Marisol’s arms, “I’m just glad you’re okay. But look at you, diving in to stop chaos. I'm not the only incredible one here.” She gave her a wink and squeezed her arms one more time. She took a deep breath, “Alright, let’s go!” She drug Marisol up to the stage with the other organizers, the mayor, and some of the police force.

It was an incredible hour – Celeste gave her speech on peaceful change, rights for all people alike, and the discrimination that is facing not only mutants, but other communities as well. The other speeches followed similar patterns and finally ended with the mayor discussing how while local is great, we would need to change the national political atmosphere, too. All in all – It was a success.

---

After the march and the speeches, Celeste sat down on the steps at the top of city hall. It had been a wild day and presuming Mari sat beside her, she would give her a grin, “Well… I think it was a success. A little ups and downs. But a success.” She pulled her smart phone out and showed it to her, “Plus, we’re on CNN. Including you.” She pointed to Marisol at the back of the picture that CNN clipped in a helicopter. “We’re officially famous,” she teased. 

Marisol was happy to be alive, but beyond that, she was just happy. The rally was not ruined, no one got hurt, and Celeste was somehow simultaneously Marisol’s saving grace and the most impressive thing she had ever seen. How could she not reward such heroism with a friendly kiss on the cheek.

Except nothing was ever that simple. Celeste immediately blushed and, when their eyes met, Marisol knew her heart skipped a beat. She was in a whole lot of trouble because it was entirely possible she was falling for her best friend.

While she was not one to shy away from praise, Marisol felt surprisingly humble about her decision to jump into the conflict. ”I just knew I could keep things safe, is all,” she mumbled, but she could not fight off the need to smile. She followed Celeste up onto the stage, just happy to be at her side.

The speeches were uplifting and, as Marisol predicted, Celeste absolutely crushed it. No one clapped louder than the quiet adapted girl behind her. Marisol was not as political as Celeste or, really, anyone on the stage, but she thrived on the passion they all had for making the kind of change the world needed.

With the event finally behind them, the girls could finally breathe a deep sigh of relief. Celeste was already joking about how they were famous, but Marisol simply grinned and shook her head. ”Nah, I’m just the friend behind the great woman. This was your day, and really? You were something special today.”

Then again, she always was.