Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the caracters or the world of X-Men or Bleach (...doesn't stop my muses or the plotbunnies...) I DO however own Jandria LeBeau and the bunnies behind the idea for this story *smiles*
Authors notes: An Assassin's Divorce is the first story within the Hellflare verse. I'm not quite sure where to put it, and even though this one belongs more to X-Men than to Bleach, I'll put it into the Bleach category, as there is no X-Men category that it truly fits - seeing as it is an AU! So... consider yourself warned now. ^_^ The other stories will be found (eventually) in Bleach... Thanks to Daughter of Darkness, who not only sicced the first plotbunny for this on me, but also betaed it. Also thanks to Mahtowin, who put up patiently with my endless requests to read this and Hellflare!
An Assassin's Divorce
"There is blood on your hands and I know it's mine – I just need more time..."
Unfinished Business, White Lies
Today was going to be the last day of her life. But Jandria LeBeau did not know that.
The Acadian female wasn't too happy when considering what her near future held, but she knew that sometimes one had to do things that one didn't like. This was definitely one of these times. She barely held back a shudder at the turn her thoughts had taken and tried to find something positive in the mess she was in. Today she would marry.
The guilds had been at war with each other for centuries. Today... War would end and peace be sealed. The shaky cease-fire that had held the death count somewhat in check would finally be unnecessary. And fights wouldn't break out whenever and wherever thieves and assassins met, resulting in more or less injuries and casualties. Assassins and thieves hated each other with a rather... deadly passion.
It had been a while ago, that the guild masters of the two main guilds in New Orleans (there were many sub-guilds all around the world) had obviously grown tired of the constant fighting, death and all around violence and thus, after lengthy and careful negotiations, had declared cease-fire. This – while not stopping the war – had at least led to a reduced death toll, but the numbers of injured were still too high and... not everyone agreed to this. There were some that really were not happy about their leaders decision, but...
Still... peace had to be sealed differently – permanently. Jandria understood that, as did her twin brother Remy. Maybe they understood too well. The two empaths had felt the sincerity and need for this from both Jean-Luc LeBeau – their father – and Marius Bordreaux – the guild master of the assassins. It might have played an important role in their decision, when they had been given the chance to say no to the chosen method of sealing the peace – a double wedding between the heirs of both guilds.
Mind you... Jandria had been very tempted to simply say "Non" to her thus arranged marriage to Julien, but... what was the alternative? She sighed. Only more death. Both leaders had come to the conclusion that the only way for an accepted peace was for it to be sealed through marriage. Not just any marriage, but a wedding between the heirs of the respective 'royal' families of the main guilds. Why exactly they were called royal wasn't entirely clear – the knowledge having been lost long ago – but the 'royal family' only meant the family of the guild leader – the king along with his queen and their heirs – of the main guilds.
Jean-Luc LeBeau was also known as the 'King of Thieves' and his abilities lived up to his title. Succession was in most cases within the family – gender did not matter – but if a leader could not live up to what needed to be done, he could be relieved of his title and be forced to pass it onto someone more suited for them.
Henri, her oldest brother, was supposed to become the next leader of their guild, but both she and Remy had been taught everything they would need to follow their father's footsteps, just in case. It was not quite impossible that Henri might one day be killed by the assassins and then Remy would be the next in the succession line to take over. Janni was the third, but she desperately hoped that this would never happen. She didn't want to see her brothers killed. The young female had already seen enough death to understand her father's decision.
With Remy married to Belladonna and herself married to Julien, this peace could be sealed. Thieves wouldn't be in constant danger of getting killed any more. However this did not mean that their marriages would be happy ones. Janni didn't entertain any illusions – Julien would try to kill her at some point in the future. She didn't expect anything better from the assassin. She had fought with the older male in various battles before and thus could, based on past experiences, give a pretty decent guess.
She bit her lip. She honestly didn't look forward to this, but... Enough with the depressing thoughts already! She scolded herself. They came anyway, bringing a bunch of memories that made her want to scream along with them.
During their last encounter – not really a battle though – he had ruthlessly destroyed most of her pride and without second thought he had gleefully ripped apart her honour, shaming her. And the bastard had done it in such a way that she had absolutely no way to fight back.
She bit down harder, grateful for the pain her teeth caused, allowing her to escape the hated memories and to try and gather the remaining pieces of her battered pride, holding her together long enough to get through the wedding.
She couldn't tell her family what Julien had done. Aside from the part where she still felt that she should have been able to defend herself and stop him... If she told them… there would be no more thoughts wasted on peace. Jandria was an empath – not a strong one and with carefully erected and maintained shields protecting her, but she was one. She could tell how much both guild masters longed for the end of this war and knew that they were not the only ones. The young female swallowed, took a deep breath and got ready to leave her room to join the rest of her family.
Looking down the stairs, hidden from the sight of those standing on the floor below, to see them all gathered, her love for them almost hurt. She wouldn't let anyone hurt them! Jamais! How ironic it was. She would marry today, but somehow it felt more like she was readying herself to enter a battlefield…
Dragging a playful smile to her mouth, she became Risque once more. Little did she know that it would be the last time.
The church was full – there were so many attending. Pretty much everyone of the main guilds and probably some of the others as well. After all this was… important – for the future. Jandria sighed and tightened her shields further. Next to her stood Remy, probably doing the same thing. Feeling her gaze resting on him, he turned slightly and two pairs of red on black eyes met.
The twins were even among mutants somewhat of a rarity, seeing as they had the very same mutations. When gaining most of these abilities – some they had been born with – this had been a blessing in disguise.
Both Remy and Janni had been born with their unusual eyes – this was a common factor as far as physical mutations were concerned. The empathy had slowly come along during their childhood – she wasn't sure whether it had been supposed to be like that or if it had been a survival mechanism that had been triggered by living on the streets before they had met the man they were now calling père.
But their empathy was still somewhat evolving and changing a bit, allowing them to share a close bond, yet it was only their secondary mutation. Their primary mutation had developed during puberty. Biokinetic charges – shortly put: they could make things go BOOM; technically put, their power was conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy. It had been a very explosive time until they had finally managed to gain control. There had been many times when they had been too afraid to touch anyone, fearing that their ability would flare out of control, charging up a human. Several theories and resulting experiments had led them to discover that this particular ability refused to work on each other – it was cancelled out by their own power. It had taken a long time before their surroundings were finally safe again.
Her musings were abruptly ended when Remy stepped closer and drew her into a tight embrace. Whispering a few encouraging words and that she was the prettiest bride – silly, really! – in softly spoken French, he made her grin and reply that he better not let Henri hear what he'd just said. They shared a smile, knowing how much their older brother loved and adored Mercy, his wife and mother of their newborn son, Jeremy.
"Janni – promis moi…" She turned her head slightly, looking up to see the taller males face, but let him continue without interrupting. "If he ever hurts you – tell moi." Remy had slipped back into the more familiar mix of French and English, but not to speaking in third person about himself – a trait too old to break and one that she shared – letting her know even without their shared bond that he was dead serious about this and wouldn't let her go without that promise.
She hesitated for a split-second, torn by the wish to tell him what Julien had already done and keeping her silence, ultimately deciding to remain quiet about this particular incident. Her pride, the knowledge of the consequences and her inability to deal with it any further than she already had, didn't allow her to speak out.
Instead her thoughts wandered back to the small envelope with the letter, she had hidden as a precaution in Remy's room not too long ago, knowing that if something happened to her he would look at that place and find it.
"Bien. Mais – you also tell moi, Remy!" Her voice let no room for objections. Even though he didn't need the protection of a femme, nor would he call for it, but… she didn't want to see him hurt. She wouldn't, couldn't live to see that happen. A sigh, then "Bien." A vibrant smile told him that he had said the right thing. This conversation over, she raised herself, standing on the tips of her toes – not too easy when wearing high heels – and kissed Remy on his cheek.
"Let's go – everyone's waiting." Together they stepped outside to meet their father, Tante Mattie, Henri, Mercy, Etienne, Lapin and Emil. The sun was shining brightly.
Dieu! She was really truly married. Jandria still couldn't quite believe that this had really happened. Only a minute or so ago – maybe a bit more – the priest had spoken the final words, binding Julien and her effectively to each other. The whole situation had suddenly felt even more surreal than it had before.
She tore her gaze from the floor and turned her head slightly to watch her brothers wedding – they hadn't yet reached the part with the vows. Julien still stood next to her, but then unexpectedly turned to face her. Not thinking much of it and trusting the assassin to at least keep the peace of this day – beyond that she held no expectations – she did nothing and continued to watch.
His next movements were quick and precise – too fast to stop him. Looking down, she stared in disbelieve at the two dark red stains in her white dress, which were rapidly growing – one on her belly and the other directly above her heart – the dagger still remaining buried deep in her body. Jandria raised her head – when had everything turned to slow motion? Oh right… when Julien had started moving. – and started to say something, preferably a curse or more… but instead found herself staring over Julien's shoulder at Remy and Belladonna. The female assassin smiled.
And then… the pain hit. Sheer raw agony washed over her and left her breathless, followed by a sudden distinct echo that she knew only too well. Remy!
While she recognized with sudden clarity what Julien had done and realized that there was no way for her to survive these injuries – Julien had ensured that she would die too fast for anyone to help her, unless they had a strong healing ability that affected others and not just themselves – and at the same time that her death would be as painful as possible, when her legs gave out and she hit the ground.
She didn't even have the strength to touch him anymore. And damn, she wanted to hurt him. Make him feel what she was feeling. But she couldn't. She was already too weak.
Again pain seared and a strangled moan escaped. In her desperation she tried to use the one technique thieves had developed centuries ago, when the assassins had nearly wiped them out, to take him with her into grave, but abruptly stopped with growing horror. She would have to go all out to complete what she wanted to do in the tiny fraction of time that she still had left and she could tell already that she wouldn't have enough control to make sure that her family, her guild were not hurt by her actions. Had she been able to, she would have growled in rage, her mind providing the apt curses for that… bâtard fou.
Her body had curled up in a desperate attempt to protect her from the onslaught of pain and the echoes of pain – Bella… Remy!! Her mind screamed. Why…he… him too? – and then her shields shattered, almost taking her mind with them.
Dimly and seemingly far away she heard a scream, realizing only belatedly that it was her own, but it didn't much anymore. At least not to her. She felt too much. The blazing agony, the creeping cold and numbness – why was it always so cold dans les églises? – her own terror, drowned out by the horror and rage of her clan, Juliens's murderous glee, satisfaction and hate and then her world thankfully reduced itself to her and Remy's pain.
Both empaths were caught in their own personal hell as their pain passed from one to the other – caught in a mad feedback loop that had spiralled out of control and strengthened the agony in each loop. Remy Etienne LeBeau and Jandria LeBeau were dying.
Jandria didn't hear the rushed steps of her family as they rushed to help, nor did she hear the curses or the out breaking fights anymore.
What should have become a day to further seal the cease-fire and turn it to peace and – somewhat – unite the guilds, had turned into an open declaration of war. A day of celebration was about to turn into a day of mourning. The wedding had become a massacre. A bride-to-be attempted to murder her husband-to-be and a groom killed his newly wedded wife of five minutes.
Wedding vows declare a couple bound till death parts them. And death had indeed parted them in an assassin's divorce.
Liked it? Hated it? Found any mistakes, strangeness (beyond the AU and artistic freedom that I used) or other stuff that's not making sense to you (while being perfectly reasonable to me)? Let me know what you thought of it and please take time to review ^^
*points at the shiny green review button* Come on - you know you just want to press it! *smiles and promptly gets mauled by the next wave of plot bunnies*