Author's Note: Hello, again! Welcome to the first chapter of the second installment of my X-Men series. Let's throw some confetti about, shall we? Anyway, as always, I hope you'll enjoy, and reviews are always welcome. I love readin' 'em.
Chapter 6
She caught a snatch of conversation as she approached the table in the food court of the museum.
"Don't get shook up, we're just trying to have a good time here, alright?" she heard John say to Bobby.
"I think you're the only one having a good time," Bobby retorted.
"I'm having a good time," she said, pushing in between the two boys standing in front of her table and setting her tray down in front of the empty chair between John and Rogue. "Who are these guys?" she asked, gesturing to the two boys behind her. John flicked the lighter she had given him open and closed.
"They're brothers," he said. "They want a light."
She smiled. "Really, now?" She looked over her shoulder at the boys, appraising them. "Oh, I don't think they're worth it," she decided with a grin and a wink. John closed his lighter, and pointed at her.
"And that's why we make a great team," he said.
"When you're right, you're right," she shrugged.
Rogue looked at her. "Don't encourage him," she said, giving her an only slightly condescending look.
As she pulled out a silver chair from the table, the curly-haired boy who looked like the older of the two reached past her and grabbed John's lighter out of his hand while simultaneously snaking his arm around her waist. He pulled both back at the same time, and she stumbled back against his chest.
"What the-"
John stood up abruptly, knocking his chair back. "Hey!" he said loudly.
"Lexiss!" Rogue exclaimed, startled.
The boy looked down at her. "Lexiss, huh?" He grinned, and lifted his arm from her waist. He put it around her shoulders, and brought his hand in front of his face and hers to light a cigarette with John's lighter.
"Lex, come here," John said. Actually, demanded.
"I'll get right on that," Lexiss snapped, reaching up and pulling on the boy's arm.
"Why don't you just chill out, alright? She's in safe hands," the boy said, looking down at her, cigarette dangling from his lips. She glared back up at him.
"Heh," John started. "That's real cute, man," he said.
The boy dropped his arm back to Lexiss' waist, and he looked at John. "What're you gonna do?" he asked. "Suddenly you're not so tough…"
Lexiss swung. Reacting quickly, the boy caught her fist and twisted her arm behind her back, pulling her close to him again.
"I swear to God, I'm going to rip off your entire arm and beat you to death with it," she said lowly. The boy looked down at her.
"Ooh-hoo-hoo. That sounds like a threat," he said. He twisted her arm tighter, and she winced, looking at John out of the corner of her eye. She thought his arm might burst from how tightly he was clenching his fist.
John caught her eye, and then turned his attention to the cigarette in the boy's hand.
"John, don't-" Lexiss said warningly, but it was too late. He winked, and flames shot out of the end of the cigarette, and up the boy's arm. With a yelp, he fell backward, pulling Lexiss with him.
Bobby's arm shot out, and white ice crystals shot from his palm, coating both the boy and Lexiss with frost, and putting out the fire. The boy yelled more, and whipped around, trying to put out flames that weren't there. But then he stopped.
Everything stopped.
Breathing heavily and shivering, Lexiss propped herself up on her elbows, one in the middle of the boy's chest, and looked around. She jumped when someone put a hand on her shoulder, and whipped her head around.
John helped her to her feet, and rubbed her arms while she brushed the ice crystals off her face. She glanced down at the boy, and over at his brother.
"Dicks," John muttered. "They deserved it."
Lexiss turned around. "Come on." She stepped over the boy toward Bobby and Rogue.
"Sorry," Bobby said, glancing in Lexiss' direction. She was rubbing warmth back into her shoulder.
"Yeah, no problem," she said, a slight chatter to her voice.
Bobby looked over at John. "You could've hurt somebody, you could've started Lex on fire!"
John looked down at her, and she up at him. It was true.
"She's fine!" he replied, arms out to his sides. "Just cold, thanks to you!" That was true, too.
The argument was headed off by Rogue.
"Bobby, what did you do?" she asked, looking around at the entire cafeteria. Every other person in the room, besides the four of them, was seemingly frozen in time.
"Yeah, Rogue. Way to have confidence in your boyfriend," Lexiss said. John snorted.
Bobby glanced in her direction. "I didn't do this," he replied.
"No," a deep, male voice behind Lexiss said.
"Aw, damn," she said muttered. All four teenagers turned.
"I did," Professor Xavier finished, rolling his wheelchair to a stop in front of them. John put his hands on his hips. "And the next time you feel like showing off… don't." Lexiss swallowed slightly.
As everyone was silent after the professor's lecture, the male news anchor on a television suspended to a pillar in the center of the food court caught Lexiss' attention, and not hers alone.
"Breaking news. We're coming to you live from Washington, where there's been an attack in the Oval Office of the White House." Lexiss focused on the T.V., and turned up the volume.
"Details are still coming in, but we have been informed that the president and vice president were not harmed. Sources say the attack involved one or more mutants." She drew a breath.
"I think it's time to leave, Professor," Scott said over the television.
"I think you're right," Xavier replied.
"Logan!" Rogue exclaimed happily, catching him in the entrance hall of the mansion and drawing him into a short hug. "You're back!"
"You miss me, kid?" he asked with a smile. She paused, and shook her head.
"Not really," she replied.
"Ah," he smiled. "How're you doing?"
Rogue smiled. "I'm okay, how about you?" Logan shrugged his shoulders.
"Who's this?" he asked suddenly. Rogue glanced over her shoulder.
"Oh, this is Bobby, he's my-"
"I'm her boyfriend," Bobby finished, reaching out to shake Logan's hand. "Call me Iceman." Logan's hand started to turn blue.
"Right… Boyfriend?" He pulled his hand away, moving the fingers slightly, and looked back at Rogue. "So, how do you guys…"
Bobby and Rogue glanced quickly at each other. "Well, we're still working on that," Bobby answered. Logan nodded slightly.
"What about Bane? How's she?"
Rogue smiled wider. "She goes by Lexiss now. That's her real name."
Logan let out a dry chuckle. "Really?"
Rogue nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. She's really opened up since you left," she replied.
Logan glanced around the foyer, as if looking for her. "Where's she now?" he asked.
"I think she's tutoring," Bobby replied. Logan arched an eyebrow.
"She tutors?"
Lexiss and Annabeth sat in front of the couch in the upstairs rec room, hunched over two PlayStation remotes.
"No fair, you're cheating!" Annabeth wailed. Lexiss bit her bottom lip in concentration.
"I'm not using any powers, I'm just that incredible," she replied. There was an orange and yellow explosion on the screen, and Lexiss dropped the controller, arms raised in triumph. "Ha! I win again!" she said.
Annabeth suddenly turned her head. "Quiet!" she hissed. The older girl fell silent, watching her.
Annabeth's mutant power was that her five senses were extremely sharp. She could especially hear and see things better than any normal human.
Despite the fact she was a mutant, Annabeth reminded Lexiss of her own sister. It had been five years since her death; Trisha would have been twelve now, to Lexiss' eighteen.
Annabeth turned and stared at Lexiss. "Dr. Grey's coming," she said solemnly.
"Shit," Lexiss muttered, grabbing the two controllers by their cords and shoving them into a drawer under to T.V. "Get your books," she told Annaebth. Annabeth kneeled down in front of the end table and quickly pulled out two textbooks and a stack of papers and notebooks. "Sit up here," Lexiss said, patting the couch cushion beside her. Annabeth plopped down on the cushion and handed Lexiss a history book. Now even Lexiss could hear Jean's footsteps.
"What page?" she asked.
"266," Annabeth whispered back. Lexiss looked down at the book, and it opened. Native American removal. Annabeth had already pulled out the worksheet she had half-finished in class.
Lexiss started to read aloud about the Trail of Tears as Jean poked her head into the room. "Everything okay in here?" she asked.
Lexiss turned her head and looked at Jean over the back of the couch as if surprised to see her. "Fine," she answered. Jean nodded.
"Alright," she said, turning and starting back down the hall. Lexiss turned back around, and she and Annabeth sighed quietly in relief.
"And no more video games!" Jean called from down the hall.
Lexiss groaned, and turned to Annabeth. "What would I do without Dr. Grey to keep me in line?" she asked her. Annabeth giggled. "Alright, kid," she sighed, tapping the book. "Let's get something accomplished."
The two worked steadily for the next half an hour, and finally Annabeth's homework was finished. Lexiss stood up and stretched. "Well, I have my own homework, so-"
"Lexiss?" Annabeth suddenly asked.
She looked down at her, arms over her head still. "Yeah?"
Annabeth looked up at her. Lexiss had always loved Annabeth's eyes. They were white, rimmed with ice blue. "Do you like my brother?" she asked, all serious-like. Lexiss sat back down on the couch, laughing.
"Damien? Well, yeah, I like him. Of course." She stretched her legs out in front of her, and put her arms behind her head. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him for a while," she said thoughtfully. Damien's powers allowed him to converse and understand animals.
Annabeth leaned forward. "No," she whispered. "Do you like him like him?"
Lexiss leaned toward her as well. "Why? Does he like me?" she asked suspiciously. Annabeth nodded, pulled back, and she sat, waiting for Lexiss' reaction.
"Don't get me wrong, Annabeth," Lexiss finally answered. "Your brother's a great guy, and if I hadn't met somebody else first, he would have probably caught my interest." Annabeth stood up, nodding to herself.
"That's what I thought," she said aloud. "It's John, isn't it?" she said. Lexiss' jaw dropped, and Annabeth giggled and started to gather her things together. Lexiss ignored the question.
"Are you mad at me because I don't like your brother?" she asked. Annabeth shook her head and laughed.
"Nope. I told him that if he had gotten a head start when you started tutoring me, he might've had a chance," she said. Lexiss arched an eyebrow at her.
"You're a very cruel twelve year-old girl," she said.
"But instead he was a chicken, and he waited until John found out about it, and now he's got this monster black eye," she finished, walking towards the door.
Lexiss sat up straight. "Annie, wait," she said. She turned.
"Hmm?"
"John hit Damien?" she asked. Annabeth laughed again.
"I think John scared him away," she giggled. "See you tomorrow!"
"Yeah," Lexiss said quietly. "Bye."
Lexiss raised her hand, hesitated, and then knocked firmly three times on the door with her knuckles. It opened nearly immediately.
"Oh… hey, Lexiss," Damien said half-heartedly. She winced, looking up at his face. His left eye was swollen and purple.
"Ouch… he really got you, didn't he?" she said despairingly. Damien didn't say anything.
"I'm really sorry about him, Damien. I've tried to keep him in check, I've really tried, but he's just so…" She stomped her foot lightly to accent what she was saying.
He smiled slightly, and laughed a little. "It's alright, Lex, really. It's not your fault he's a jealous guy," he said.
"And it really pisses me off that he's like that since we're not even together!" she said angrily.
Damien leaned against the doorway. "Officially, anyway," he reminded her.
"Well, yeah, but that's not the point!" she said.
"So why don't you talk to him?" Damien suggested. Lexiss started down the hallway, waving over her shoulder as she went.
"He's lucky if that's all we're going to do," she said.
"So, Lexiss and Pyro, huh?" Logan asked.
Rogue shrugged. "Well, kinda. Nothing's really official yet, but if any guy besides Bobby talks to her, John gets pretty angry," she replied with a knowing smile. "You should've seen him at the museum today…"
Logan frowned slightly. "Well Bane… er, Lexiss can't like that much," he said.
"That's what they're always fighting about, when they fight. They usually get along pretty well," Bobby said.
Things between Lexiss and John had blown together rather quickly. The two had instantly clicked, and had stuck together like glue ever since the Liberty Island incident. Lexiss really did care for John, as more than a friend. He had been there for her when she had needed someone she could really talk to about the serious stuff, even if he only half-listened, and she hadn't wanted to bog Rogue down after her rescue. He was interested in her, too, that much she knew, but he didn't seem ready for a relationship right now. That, combined with his bipolar fits of jealousy, often… frustrated her, to say the least.
She came upon John's room. Everyone had their own rooms now that they were older. His was on the same floor as the teachers' because he caused so much trouble and they wanted to keep an eye on him.
Lexiss pounded on the door once with her fist. "JOHN!" she yelled.
"Shit," she heard him curse from the other side. The door opened, and he stood there, looking down at her. "What?! What did I do?!" he said.
"What in that thick head of yours made you think it was a good idea to go and hit Damien?!" she shouted at him.
"Damien's an ass!"
"Well, jealousy's a bitch, isn't it?!" Whirling around, she started to storm down the hall. She thought if she remained there, she might hit him.
"Lex. Lex!" she heard him yell after her. His door slammed shut, and he took wide strides to catch up to her. He caught her arm, but she pulled away.
"Don't touch me. Don't talk to me," she growled. At the end of the hall, she started quickly down the stairs toward the main floor. John followed.
"LEXISS!!" he yelled after her, stopping at the top of the stairs as if he expected her to turn around because he had called her name.
Lexiss stepped purposely down the stairs, but then came to a dead halt at the bottom, staring at the doorway. Rogue and Bobby turned to face her, but they weren't sure who she was looking at.
"Logan!" she said gleefully, breaking into a run toward him. She threw her arms around his neck in a giant hug. He spun her around slightly from the momentum at which she had come at him, and she then stood still on her tiptoes, smiling into his shoulder.
"We missed you!" she exclaimed, resting her hands on his shoulders and looking him over. "You haven't changed at all!"
Logan looked at the three of them. Lexiss could hear John coming down the stairs, but at the moment he wasn't even crossing her mind.
"Can't say the same about you guys. You cut your hair," Logan started. Lexiss grinned and nodded. Her dark hair, which had been a solid straight cut down to her shoulder blades when he had left, now only brushed her shoulders, had been thinned out, and she had wispy, feathery bangs parted to the side.
"And Rogue's got a boyfriend," she added. She saw him glance down at his hand.
"I've noticed."
Lexiss laughed. "And-"
"'Scuse me for a minute," John said, pushing in between Lexiss and Logan.
"John," she hissed, pulling on his sleeve. "Don't be rude."
He smiled down at her in a sickly sweet kind of way that was completely unlike John, and Lexiss immediately knew something was wrong. Her suspicions were confirmed when he bent, grabbed her around the knees, and lifted her onto his right shoulder.
"John!" she shrieked as he turned around and started walking toward the corridor opposite of the stairs. He raised his free arm.
"Nice talking to you," he said in a way that everyone instantly knew he couldn't have cared less.
"John! Put me down you asshole!" Lexiss yelled, trying to kick him and pounding her fists against his back. He rounded a corner, and Logan, Rogue, and Bobby disappeared from her sight.
John dropped Lexiss rather abruptly on the couch in the downstairs rec room and slammed the door shut. She bounced slightly, and glared up at John. "What the hell were you-"
"Will you just listen to me for a minute?!" John yelled over her. She sat back against the cushions and crossed her arms, glowering up at him. It wasn't like she had much of a choice.
John started pacing in front of the couch, running his hands through his hair. He sighed loudly, stopping directly in front of her. "I'm… I'm sorry, Lex." She arched an eyebrow.
"You said that last time," she said flatly, clearly unimpressed.
"Yeah, but I'm serious this time!" he said exasperatedly. She stood up.
"Oh, so you just lied to me last time!" she replied.
"No!"
He scrubbed a hand through his hair, pulled his lighter out of his pocket, and started flipping it open and closed. "It's just… when people… guys… I dunno, Lex!" he said, leaning against a wall.
"No, I know exactly what you're trying to say! You're jealous and possessive of something you don't even have!" She started towards the door. She turned halfway there. "And you know what? Don't even talk to me about being jealous of other people! You know, guys may like me, but I don't ever act on anything I hear or they tell me! God, John, you've gotta be one of the biggest players I know!" He didn't say anything. "I've waited for I don't know how long for you to do or say something! Anything!"
Her gaze softened a little bit. "And you know me, John, better than anyone," she said. "I'm really impatient, and this is the most un-exclusive relationship I've ever been in. I'm tired of waiting for you."
She turned toward the door. John strode across the room, and as she reached for the doorknob, he grabbed her arm.
"Let me go."
"Hey," he said quietly. She turned slightly, and looked up at him, expressionless.
"What if we wanted to make it exclusive?" he said softly, looking down at her.
"What?" she asked.
"What if we wanted it to be just the two of us?" His hand came up, and his thumb rested against her cheek.
"Forgive me if I don't believe you," she replied. His forehead dipped and rested against hers.
"Then I'll have to make you believe." His head and hers instinctively tilted in opposite directions, but just as their lips were about to touch, the door opened. Both of their heads snapped up, and their immediate reactions were to step away from each other. John cleared his throat.
Lexiss could tell Ororo was trying very hard to keep her smile to herself. "Um, Lexiss, could I speak to you for a minute?" she asked. A flush began to creep into Lexiss' cheeks.
"Yeah, sure," she said, staring at the ground and following her out the door.
Neither Lexiss nor Ororo said anything until they were far enough away from the room to not be heard by John. Ororo erupted into a fit of giggles first.
"I'm… sorry if I… interrupted anything," she managed to choke out, wiping her eyes.
Lexiss crossed her arms and glared at her. "Yeah, I bet," she muttered.
Once Ororo managed to get her laughing under control, she told Lexiss the reason she had been looking for her. "Jean and I are heading up to Boston to try and locate the mutant that attacked the president, and the professor and Scott are going out too, so we need you to baby-sit tonight," she explained.
Lexiss peered at her curiously. "You're joking," she said. "You're leaving me in charge of the mansion?"
Ororo quickly rephrased her question. "I need you to baby-sit Logan tonight," she said. Lexiss groaned.
"Aw, come on, Ororo! I don't wanna spy on the guy!" she complained, following her to the elevator. Ororo stepped in, and Lexiss stayed on the dark wooden flooring in front of the doors.
"Don't think of it as spying," she said. "Think of yourself as an overseer, making sure Logan isn't neglecting his duties." The elevator bell dinged and the doors began to slide closed. Lexiss slouched as Ororo waved at her. "I'll see you when we get back."
Again, reviews are appreciated. Until next time!
