Disclaimer: The characters are owned by Marvel, and Warner Brothers, as
far as I can tell. I am using them without permission, and am not profiting
in any way from this work. I own nothing, so there is no use suing me. I
will probably never own any Marvel characters anyway, unless Stan Lee wants
to adopt a child. If he does, he can contact me here.
This is my first fan fiction, so I'm not sure if there are certain customs to follow. I do understand that it is customary to write a few words before the start of a chapter, but the reason is not too clear to me. Therefore bear with me here or just skip to the part which isn't in bold.
There is no especial continuity to the TV series, and I have taken various characters from different parts of X-men: Evolution. If you really need some continuity, think of it as the X-men from the first season, along with Gambit in their team, and Beast as a teacher. The Brotherhood is what it was in the first season, with the addition of Boom-Boom. There are no Acolytes, and none of the whole squadron of X-babies (Iceman, Wolfsbane etc). For simplicity let's just pretend they were all on a boat that sank, shall we?
The fic is basically about Remy Lebeau, AKA Gambit, and Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops has the next biggest role. The rating is for language, and comic violence. The title was taken from a song that I heard while writing this fic:
"Towards the rich archaic heavens,
Towards the lack diorama."
The song is called 'December Flower' by 'In Flames', and the title has no real relation to the song. This is what my title means:
The: this is a definite article, referring to something.
Lack: lack means when something is missing.
Diorama: a diorama is a three dimensional model of something.
Therefore, the whole title means 'a model (or fan fiction) of the X-men, which does not do full justice to them, and leaves out parts of their lives (like the boring bits), in order to give a nice little fan fiction story.'
*-*
Chapter One: As close to normal as possible.
Kurt walked through the corridor of the Xavier Institute. There was nothing to indicate that the day wouldn't be an ordinary day. All over the Xavier institute, things were perfectly normal. Over in the corner, Logan had grabbed Remy by his collar.
"Didn't I tell ya not to nick my beer gumbo?"
"Perhaps, er, y' would like t' calm down, er, mon ami?" Remy said, as composedly as someone could when he was in danger of having his throat ripped out.
To his surprise, Logan felt himself calm down slightly. For a moment, it seemed Remy's empathy powers had saved him, but only for a moment. Logan wasn't too happy about having his feelings manipulated and as Kurt rounded the corner, he could still hear Remy's cries for help, together with some very feral sounding laughter.
Shaking his head Kurt walked on. He was still annoyed at being banned from bamfing within premises; he hadn't exactly expected Professor Xavier to be ecstatic about Kurt nearly bamfing into his nose while he was having a bath, plus having the tub smell of brimstone for days, but. His chain of thought was broken by a very strange sight in front of him.
Rogue chased Kitty with a leather jacket in her hands, Kitty dodging by phasing and letting Rogue fly through her, and then running in the opposite direction. Evan watched from atop a table, laughing his head off. Kurt watched for a bit, wondering how serious- or for that matter how sane- the three were. As he continued forward, Kitty phased through the floor, sticking her tongue out at Rogue.
"Looks like you lose, girl" Evan laughed.
Rogue growled in reply "She cain't hold her breath forever"
"We had a bet," Evan said to Kurt as he joined them "to see if Rogue could manage to make her wear Goth clothes"
Kurt's reply was cut off as Kitty stuck her head through the floor, looked at Rogue and stuck her tongue out again. With a strangled yell Rogue flew downstairs, followed by Evan, still laughing.
Kurt walked on. All over the Xavier institute, things were perfectly normal. Or at least as close to normal as they ever came.
*-*
At the Brotherhood's place, things were normal as well. Fred sat on a sofa scratching his head and wondering how the box of cereals was opened. Finally he shrugged and ripped off the top half, spraying cereal all over Lance. A small tremor shook the building. Fred misread Lance's glaring at him as Lance asking for an opinion on how good the tremor was.
"Very nice Lance," he said, "You've improved lately. Have you been practicing?"
The building began shaking again.
Elsewhere, Tabitha was shaking Todd by his neck.
"Why- aren't- you- normal?" she said, emphasizing each word with a shake.
"Hey! How am I abnormal?" he demanded, as he wobbled up and down, trying to remove her hand.
"Making an altar to flies in my room is NOT normal!" she snapped, shaking harder.
"It's not an altar, yo! It's a fly catcher, and it attracts the flies in your room to one place so I can. dispose. of them." He would have licked his lips, except there was an extremely irate looking woman holding him by the scruff of his neck.
"They are- ATTRACTED- from outside!" If her strength had matched her temper, Todd would have been halfway to Alaska.
"That's cool." He glanced at her face and amended, "Uh, cool? Did I say 'cool'? What I meant to say was 'cruel' that is, the fly catching thingy is cruel, and I'll remove it right now, that is if you- er- let me go and stop shaking me around, um, please?" Tabitha was, however, in no mood to be forgiving. She readied a bomb.
*-*
Back in the mansion, Scott was practicing in the danger room as Remy walked to the control panel and sat down in a chair, rubbing his head. Dieu! Logan was a teacher, he was not supposed to get so, so physical with the students! Added to his hangover, Remy felt he could not have been in worse shape if he had been trampled by elephants in high heels. Scott was fighting a couple of robots. He called for Remy to join him, adding that he had nothing to be scared of. This was, in retrospect, perhaps not the best thing to say to the Cajun when he was in a volatile mood, sitting in the control room. Remy said no thanks as he pressed a few buttons as he stood and walked out, while in the room below him, Scott looked on in surprise as the two robots turned into eight black cloak and helmet wearing men making deep breathing noises, taking out- light sabers?
After lunch, Scott received a message from Lance, telling him to be at the local dike with four others for a showdown.
"What can he want?" Scott mused aloud. Remy stared at him. He spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a handicapped child, "Scott, sumt'ing tells me Lance isn't planning a tea party. Remy be t'inking, maybe he wants t' beat y' up hein?"
Scott shook his head "No, I don't think so. That's too obvious. And besides, you can't be so suspicious of everyone. Perhaps he wants a truce. See, it says here that they want Jean to negotiate."
"No, it doesn't," Rogue said as she grabbed the note from him, "It says they want Jean to referee. Cyke! Referee, as in wrestling matches."
"Rogue," it was Scott's turn to sound patient, "a referee is someone who mediates between two parties to solve a dispute."
"Not ze way they do it in wrestling," added Kurt wryly. Scott ignored the remark. "Okay, who's coming?"
Kurt spoke up. "I want to go. I haven't bamfed in so long I think I'm storing up brimstone."
Scott nodded "Fair enough. Remy, you can come as well. Perhaps one afternoon away from liquor, (which you drink in violation of rules, by the way), as well as the extra danger room sessions for a month, should teach you to not to press buttons in the control room." Remy glared at him.
Logan was listening. He snorted. "So this is your negotiating team?" He didn't bother to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "The drunk French dude, and the blue German elf? Well done, great leader. Who else do you have in mind? Will it be the antisocial Goth, the skateboarding brother, or the loose lipped half-pint?"
Scott sighed. As field leader of the group he expected to have his actions questioned by the teenagers, but he expected the teachers to be more understanding. He tried to explain his actions to Logan.
"Gambit has empathy powers, even though he can't control them consistently," -for some odd reason Logan snarled and Remy winced- "but I feel that he can be useful in negotiations. Kurt has volunteered to come, and I cannot deny his request. Other than that, I believe that Rogue may be useful, as she knows the Brotherhood. Finally, I will take Evan; perhaps his street-smartness may come in handy."
He was half-expecting it, but it was still hard not to show his anger when everyone burst out laughing, except Logan, who bared his teeth in what might have been called a smile, and Rogue, who coolly arched an eyebrow and said "What maykes ya'll think we'll come?"
He would have lost his temper at that, but Logan intervened (finally he's acting like a teacher, Scott thought), and said "He's your leader. You have to listen to him. If he wants to take you to get your asses kicked because he thinks there will be negotiating, you have to follow him. Not a choice." Suddenly he grinned "And Scooter, make sure Gumbo is in the forefront of all the, ah, negotiations." Still smiling, he walked away. Scott stared after him.
"Why does everyone think there will be fighting?" he asked the air. Kurt answered, "Perhaps, mein freund, because none of us can remember the Brotherhood doing anything else."
"Remy cannot go, he be feeling a bit, er, under de weather, I t'ink de expression is."
He was met by flat stares. Everyone knew he had a hangover. Some people (like Scott) didn't like him breaking the rules. The others were angry because he hadn't shared.
"Hey, if we haveta go, then why not you, man?" Spike piped up. He fell into the latter category.
"Rogue, darlin'?" Remy pleaded, looking her right in her eyes. What a horrible time for his empathy to stop working. She looked at him as if he had given her herpes.
"Do ah know ya shugah? Aren't you tha pahson who wanted ta get intimate with a few cans of beer last naght? Alone?" She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time "Oh, that's raht! You are that pahson!" Remy sulked. He knew when he was beaten. Scott motioned the team to start moving. As they walked Remy said sullenly "Why don' y' all go soak y'r heads?" His empathy must have started working again because the others took at least a couple of steps towards the bathrooms before they shook their respective heads, wondering what had come over them. Kurt, however, was gifted with the ability to teleport, and he took full advantage of it, bamfing away. He bamfed back a second later, head dripping, and with a German curse, jumped at Remy. When the situation calmed down, the team headed out, Kurt inside Jeans' telekinetic bubble, Remy holding two cards ready, making various suggestions, such as "Kurt, mon ami, Remy would like to see you act like a monkey, s'il vous plait." Or "Come on! One more time! Show us how de cow really jumped over de moon!" He stopped only when Rogue threatened to absorb his powers, and shove his Bo staff, kinetically charged, where the sun didn't shine.
This is my first fan fiction, so I'm not sure if there are certain customs to follow. I do understand that it is customary to write a few words before the start of a chapter, but the reason is not too clear to me. Therefore bear with me here or just skip to the part which isn't in bold.
There is no especial continuity to the TV series, and I have taken various characters from different parts of X-men: Evolution. If you really need some continuity, think of it as the X-men from the first season, along with Gambit in their team, and Beast as a teacher. The Brotherhood is what it was in the first season, with the addition of Boom-Boom. There are no Acolytes, and none of the whole squadron of X-babies (Iceman, Wolfsbane etc). For simplicity let's just pretend they were all on a boat that sank, shall we?
The fic is basically about Remy Lebeau, AKA Gambit, and Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops has the next biggest role. The rating is for language, and comic violence. The title was taken from a song that I heard while writing this fic:
"Towards the rich archaic heavens,
Towards the lack diorama."
The song is called 'December Flower' by 'In Flames', and the title has no real relation to the song. This is what my title means:
The: this is a definite article, referring to something.
Lack: lack means when something is missing.
Diorama: a diorama is a three dimensional model of something.
Therefore, the whole title means 'a model (or fan fiction) of the X-men, which does not do full justice to them, and leaves out parts of their lives (like the boring bits), in order to give a nice little fan fiction story.'
*-*
Chapter One: As close to normal as possible.
Kurt walked through the corridor of the Xavier Institute. There was nothing to indicate that the day wouldn't be an ordinary day. All over the Xavier institute, things were perfectly normal. Over in the corner, Logan had grabbed Remy by his collar.
"Didn't I tell ya not to nick my beer gumbo?"
"Perhaps, er, y' would like t' calm down, er, mon ami?" Remy said, as composedly as someone could when he was in danger of having his throat ripped out.
To his surprise, Logan felt himself calm down slightly. For a moment, it seemed Remy's empathy powers had saved him, but only for a moment. Logan wasn't too happy about having his feelings manipulated and as Kurt rounded the corner, he could still hear Remy's cries for help, together with some very feral sounding laughter.
Shaking his head Kurt walked on. He was still annoyed at being banned from bamfing within premises; he hadn't exactly expected Professor Xavier to be ecstatic about Kurt nearly bamfing into his nose while he was having a bath, plus having the tub smell of brimstone for days, but. His chain of thought was broken by a very strange sight in front of him.
Rogue chased Kitty with a leather jacket in her hands, Kitty dodging by phasing and letting Rogue fly through her, and then running in the opposite direction. Evan watched from atop a table, laughing his head off. Kurt watched for a bit, wondering how serious- or for that matter how sane- the three were. As he continued forward, Kitty phased through the floor, sticking her tongue out at Rogue.
"Looks like you lose, girl" Evan laughed.
Rogue growled in reply "She cain't hold her breath forever"
"We had a bet," Evan said to Kurt as he joined them "to see if Rogue could manage to make her wear Goth clothes"
Kurt's reply was cut off as Kitty stuck her head through the floor, looked at Rogue and stuck her tongue out again. With a strangled yell Rogue flew downstairs, followed by Evan, still laughing.
Kurt walked on. All over the Xavier institute, things were perfectly normal. Or at least as close to normal as they ever came.
*-*
At the Brotherhood's place, things were normal as well. Fred sat on a sofa scratching his head and wondering how the box of cereals was opened. Finally he shrugged and ripped off the top half, spraying cereal all over Lance. A small tremor shook the building. Fred misread Lance's glaring at him as Lance asking for an opinion on how good the tremor was.
"Very nice Lance," he said, "You've improved lately. Have you been practicing?"
The building began shaking again.
Elsewhere, Tabitha was shaking Todd by his neck.
"Why- aren't- you- normal?" she said, emphasizing each word with a shake.
"Hey! How am I abnormal?" he demanded, as he wobbled up and down, trying to remove her hand.
"Making an altar to flies in my room is NOT normal!" she snapped, shaking harder.
"It's not an altar, yo! It's a fly catcher, and it attracts the flies in your room to one place so I can. dispose. of them." He would have licked his lips, except there was an extremely irate looking woman holding him by the scruff of his neck.
"They are- ATTRACTED- from outside!" If her strength had matched her temper, Todd would have been halfway to Alaska.
"That's cool." He glanced at her face and amended, "Uh, cool? Did I say 'cool'? What I meant to say was 'cruel' that is, the fly catching thingy is cruel, and I'll remove it right now, that is if you- er- let me go and stop shaking me around, um, please?" Tabitha was, however, in no mood to be forgiving. She readied a bomb.
*-*
Back in the mansion, Scott was practicing in the danger room as Remy walked to the control panel and sat down in a chair, rubbing his head. Dieu! Logan was a teacher, he was not supposed to get so, so physical with the students! Added to his hangover, Remy felt he could not have been in worse shape if he had been trampled by elephants in high heels. Scott was fighting a couple of robots. He called for Remy to join him, adding that he had nothing to be scared of. This was, in retrospect, perhaps not the best thing to say to the Cajun when he was in a volatile mood, sitting in the control room. Remy said no thanks as he pressed a few buttons as he stood and walked out, while in the room below him, Scott looked on in surprise as the two robots turned into eight black cloak and helmet wearing men making deep breathing noises, taking out- light sabers?
After lunch, Scott received a message from Lance, telling him to be at the local dike with four others for a showdown.
"What can he want?" Scott mused aloud. Remy stared at him. He spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a handicapped child, "Scott, sumt'ing tells me Lance isn't planning a tea party. Remy be t'inking, maybe he wants t' beat y' up hein?"
Scott shook his head "No, I don't think so. That's too obvious. And besides, you can't be so suspicious of everyone. Perhaps he wants a truce. See, it says here that they want Jean to negotiate."
"No, it doesn't," Rogue said as she grabbed the note from him, "It says they want Jean to referee. Cyke! Referee, as in wrestling matches."
"Rogue," it was Scott's turn to sound patient, "a referee is someone who mediates between two parties to solve a dispute."
"Not ze way they do it in wrestling," added Kurt wryly. Scott ignored the remark. "Okay, who's coming?"
Kurt spoke up. "I want to go. I haven't bamfed in so long I think I'm storing up brimstone."
Scott nodded "Fair enough. Remy, you can come as well. Perhaps one afternoon away from liquor, (which you drink in violation of rules, by the way), as well as the extra danger room sessions for a month, should teach you to not to press buttons in the control room." Remy glared at him.
Logan was listening. He snorted. "So this is your negotiating team?" He didn't bother to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "The drunk French dude, and the blue German elf? Well done, great leader. Who else do you have in mind? Will it be the antisocial Goth, the skateboarding brother, or the loose lipped half-pint?"
Scott sighed. As field leader of the group he expected to have his actions questioned by the teenagers, but he expected the teachers to be more understanding. He tried to explain his actions to Logan.
"Gambit has empathy powers, even though he can't control them consistently," -for some odd reason Logan snarled and Remy winced- "but I feel that he can be useful in negotiations. Kurt has volunteered to come, and I cannot deny his request. Other than that, I believe that Rogue may be useful, as she knows the Brotherhood. Finally, I will take Evan; perhaps his street-smartness may come in handy."
He was half-expecting it, but it was still hard not to show his anger when everyone burst out laughing, except Logan, who bared his teeth in what might have been called a smile, and Rogue, who coolly arched an eyebrow and said "What maykes ya'll think we'll come?"
He would have lost his temper at that, but Logan intervened (finally he's acting like a teacher, Scott thought), and said "He's your leader. You have to listen to him. If he wants to take you to get your asses kicked because he thinks there will be negotiating, you have to follow him. Not a choice." Suddenly he grinned "And Scooter, make sure Gumbo is in the forefront of all the, ah, negotiations." Still smiling, he walked away. Scott stared after him.
"Why does everyone think there will be fighting?" he asked the air. Kurt answered, "Perhaps, mein freund, because none of us can remember the Brotherhood doing anything else."
"Remy cannot go, he be feeling a bit, er, under de weather, I t'ink de expression is."
He was met by flat stares. Everyone knew he had a hangover. Some people (like Scott) didn't like him breaking the rules. The others were angry because he hadn't shared.
"Hey, if we haveta go, then why not you, man?" Spike piped up. He fell into the latter category.
"Rogue, darlin'?" Remy pleaded, looking her right in her eyes. What a horrible time for his empathy to stop working. She looked at him as if he had given her herpes.
"Do ah know ya shugah? Aren't you tha pahson who wanted ta get intimate with a few cans of beer last naght? Alone?" She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time "Oh, that's raht! You are that pahson!" Remy sulked. He knew when he was beaten. Scott motioned the team to start moving. As they walked Remy said sullenly "Why don' y' all go soak y'r heads?" His empathy must have started working again because the others took at least a couple of steps towards the bathrooms before they shook their respective heads, wondering what had come over them. Kurt, however, was gifted with the ability to teleport, and he took full advantage of it, bamfing away. He bamfed back a second later, head dripping, and with a German curse, jumped at Remy. When the situation calmed down, the team headed out, Kurt inside Jeans' telekinetic bubble, Remy holding two cards ready, making various suggestions, such as "Kurt, mon ami, Remy would like to see you act like a monkey, s'il vous plait." Or "Come on! One more time! Show us how de cow really jumped over de moon!" He stopped only when Rogue threatened to absorb his powers, and shove his Bo staff, kinetically charged, where the sun didn't shine.