I have decided to continue this story. Thanks to ninjacatwoman For adding me as a favorite.
Chapter 2
Julianna stared at her brother sitting on the futon. Staring blankly at the wall, his face devoid of any emotion, she would think he was dead too were it not for his slightly erratic breathing. She could easily tell he was trying very hard not to cry again, to be strong for her. But she was letting the tears fall freely, no sobs accompanied them. Jules didn't believe in with holding emotions. If you were pissed off you should show it, if you were sad you should cry. But no matter how many times she tried to tell Mark this he wouldn't shed another tear.
Truth be told the reason she was crying wasn't over her dead mother figure. Don't get me wrong she was sad, but she was more concerned about what was to happen to the two of them. Would they split up and taken to foster homes? Or sent to orphanages? The very thought of her having to leave Mark brought on a whole new wave of tears.
Even through her blurry vision she could make out the EMTs taking Sarah's body out on a covered stretcher. And another blurry figure coming toward her.
"Marcus Worthy and Julianna Bevignani I presume?" a feminine voice asked.
"Bevignani-Worthy. Actually I go by Worthy." she said controlling voice and trying to stop the tears in order to have a civil conversation. Once she opened her eyes she saw a tall African American woman standing in front of the futon she and Marcus shared for sleeping. She was giving them both one of those smiles that was a mix between pity and encouragement.
"I'm Detective Harrison. I know this must be a hard time for you but I'm going to have to ask you both a few questions. Is that all right?" She asked.
Jules managed to give her small nod while looking out of the corner of my eye at Mark, who gave no reaction, not even acknowledging that she was standing before him, let alone speaking to him.
"We haven't been able to test her blood yet but her condition did signify the use of ecstasy. Did she have any past problems with the drug that you know of?" Dt. Harrison asked.
"No. Sarah didn't do drugs." Julianna answered.
"Alright." She said skeptically. "Do you know what she was doing last night prior to her death?"
"We were at the beach. But Monday is her club night." Jules replied.
"Club? What type of club was she in?" Dt. Harrison asked.
"I meant nightclub. She would go out with her friends mostly to Hugo's but I'm not sure where she went last night, there are a lot of clubs here." Julianna replied blandly.
"Are you sure that went to a club last night and somewhere else?" Dt. Harrison asked, now directing her questions solely at Jules, seeing as Mark never responded.
"Positive, it's routine every Monday." She answered.
"Well from the information we gathered from the friends you told us of she was night walker." Julianna gave her a puzzled look. "Her profession was of the escort kind-"
"She was a prostitute. Alright a hooker. Call it whatever you want, just stop being so god damn condescending." Mark interrupted her, never taking his eyes away from the wall. "You don't have to pretend to be polite about her career; she's not around to be offended."
"Mr. Worthy I truly am sorry for your lost but I need these questions answered in order-"
"Yeah whatever. We weren't here we don't what happened. Grilling us for information won't help you." He finally tore his eyes away from the chipping paint and looked Detective Harrison square in the eye. "All I want is for you to find my mom's killer, it would be a miracle if you actually caught him."
He got up and walked to the door. "I'm going out. Don't wait up." He threw back before slamming the door shut.
"I'm sorry about Mark, he's just not coping well." Jules explained.
"Don't worry about it. Contrary to popular belief everyone isn't cooperative when it comes to questioning." She replied. "We're done here though. We have enough to begin investigation."
Dt. Harrison got up and was walking to the small apartment's front door when Julianna called out to her.
"If you don't mind my asking, what's gonna happen to Mark and me?" she asked with her eyes downcast.
"It's a bit too early to tell what will happen in the long run. The two of you will stay here until further notice. Mark will be sent to the closest relative we can find that will take him. And we'll try to get in contact with your family." She answered.
"They won't take me back. They hate me." Jules answered bringing her eyes up to meet the detective's.
"They're your family."
"Mark is my family."
Dt. Harrison gave her another sad smile. "We'll in touch if we find anything." She left Julianna alone in the apartment with only her grief to keep her company.
I haven't cried this much since I was thirteen
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It was now 9 pm. 11 hours since Mark had walked out without even a backwards glance. She had been searching every place she could think of hoping against hope that he hadn't gotten his hands on any alcoholic substance. Her last resort was the beach. Good ol' Lake Michigan. She was walking along the sand, flip flops in hand, searching the shore for any signs of his shaggy dirty blond hair.
Dodging through the stragglers still leaving from their late afternoon swims, sighed and started the long trek back up the beach to the main road. Until a lone figure caught her eye. It was lying in the sand looking up at the sky. The closer she got the easier it became to recognize Mark lying there in the sand looking more alone and confused than she had ever seen him.
"Mark?" She asked cautiously.
No answer.
"Mark come on talk to me."
No answer.
"Your stupid power doesn't work on me Mark. I can see you. You're not invisible."
"Jules I don't want to talk right now." Finally a response, and he's not drunk
"You've gotta talk sometime Mark. The longer you hold it in the worse it's gonna get. How many times must I tell you this?"
"It's too soon. Please, just not now." He gave her a pleading look.
"Alright. But this isn't the end." She sighed and lay on her back next to him.
"Do you remember that time we were gonna try pull the moon closer to earth?" He asked suddenly.
Julianna laughed. "Yeah I was gonna use my power to pull it for your birthday. Until you stopped me saying that the moon controlled the waves and I'd probably end up flooding the whole city."
"It also would've been a hella cold May." He laughed
They passed into a comfortable conversation about the way things used to be. Both careful never to mention the fact that it would be that way again.
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They walked to their apartment building in a comfortable silence.
This is good maybe we can avoid that separation topic until tomorrow.
"Are you worried about what's gonna happen to us Jules?" Mark asked with a forlorn look in his eyes.
Damn it so close.
"I'd be lying if I said that I didn't consider us running away to avoid social services." She replied.
"Don't worry if all goes well the two of you can stay together." They both looked toward their apartment door that they had just arrived in front of. There stood two women. One with fiery red hair, the other with white hair that didn't seem to suit her young face. The women with white hair was the one who had spoken.
"Who are you?" Julianna and Mark asked in unison.
"Teachers" They replied the same way.
"Why are you here?" Julianna asked at the same time Mark said, "I've never seen teachers in leather body suits before."
"We are here to help you." The white haired lady spoke again.
"Maybe we should continue this chat inside." The red haired woman said.
Mark and Julianna looked at each other in question, and shrugged. Mark took out his key and opened the door, Brandishing his right arm with a gentlemanly "Ladies first."
Once everyone was settled in, Storm and Jean and the white and red haired ladies had identified themselves respectively had remained standing, while Mark and Jules sat down on the futon, they began their explanation.
"We know what you are." Jean began.
"You mean human. Thanks but I already knew that." Jules said.
"What I mean to say is we know that you are mutants." She continued.
"Mutants? Us? That's crazy talk. Where would you get an idea like that?" Mark tried to laugh it off.
"It's okay Mark. You don't have to hide it from us. We're not here to hurt you. We are mutants too." Storm said with a kind smile.
"And what are you here to do recruit us to join some mutant cult?" Julianna asked in all seriousness. You never know what kind of off whack people are out there.
"No. Now here comes the difficult part. We're teachers at school exclusively for mutants. Where they can learn and be around others like them without having to worry about exposure." Jean explained.
"What was so hard about that?" Mark ventured.
"We would like to enroll you in our school. Xavier's school for gifted youngsters, it's in upstate New York." Storm finished.
"New York? You came from New York to Chicago to ask about school?" Mark looked at them like they were on crack. "Haven't you ever heard of the telephone?"
"The thing is that if we take you, you would have to come now. Today. This very moment." Jean said.
"Why it's only the end of July. Around here school doesn't start 'til September." Jules said.
"Yes but," Jean looked to Storm in question to continue, she received a nod of approval. "but there's going to be a census."
"I thought that only happened every-" Mark began but was cut off by Jean.
"Not a normal census. They're trying to see who is a mutant and whose human or normal. Apparently Mayor Daley is taking the growing 'mutant problem' as they say harder than any one else. He wants to identify every mutant in this city and confine them to one place. Our founder, of the school Charles Xavier, sent to get every eligible child or teen willing to come with us to the school. There's the two of you and four other children waiting outside."
"You've got to be shittin' me." Jules said.
"Pardon." Strom arched an eyebrow.
"I mean come on. Do you expect us to believe that there truly is some safe haven for mutants and we can just pick up and move and never look back?" She said all in one breath.
"That's the general idea. And it's not that you can never come back, just that you need to leave now the census is set to take place early October, but it can change to next week. We only want you to be safe." Storm said.
This went on for about ten minutes, Storm saying how it for the best , Jules coming up with reasons why it wasn't, and Jean and Mark watching from the sidelines. Mark finally got Julianna to agree with just one sentence.
"Jules, at least this way we can stay together."
That got her on board.
It took them both another ten minutes to get their things pack into some duffle bags, their only form of luggage, and out the door.
"So when does the flight leave?" mark asked as they walked down the hall.
"As soon as I get into pilot seat." Storm said simply. Intrigued Julianna asked her some questions.
"You can fly a plane?"
"It's a jet."
"You can afford a private jet?"
"It's the schools"
"A school can afford a jet?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
"Only when I'm interested." Jules smiled cheekily at her.
She gave her a small smile back. I definitely like this Storm.
Mark was confused when she and Jean turned away from the elevator toward the stairwell. They were on the second to highest floor, and Mark and Julianna assumed that they would be heading downstairs toward a car, or van seeing as how they said four children were waiting.
"Where are you guys going?" he voiced exactly what Jules was thinking.
"They jet" They chorused.
Without another question they followed them up the two flights of stairs and through the door that led to the building's rooftop. There they saw a sleek jet looking like something out of an action movie.
"This is a school's jet?" Jules asked amazed.
"Yes." Jean said with an amused smile at her amazement.
"Wow if the jet is like this the school must be a mansion." Mark said with a laugh.
"Actually it is a mansion." Storm said.
Mark and Jules were both shocked speechless. Them living in a mansion? What is this? Some kind of an alternate universe? They were silent until they walked onto the jet, four heads swerved in their direction. One was a small girl with dark red hair, she looked to be about 10 years old. A boy with black hair was sitting in the row across from her, maybe he was fourteen. And the last two were unpleasantly familiar, Sherry and Brittany. Brittany gave them a hesitant nervous smile, Sherry gave Mark her best seductive look. Jules and Mark took their seats after being introduced, Mary was the red haired girl, and Blake was the boy. Turns out he just turned fifteen.
The first few minutes of the ride was spent looking out the window over Chicago, Julianna was thinking that maybe this was her last time to seeing it. After all mark was with her, what reason did she have to come back. Time to start a new life. Was her last thought before falling asleep and snoozing the rest of the way.
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Finally a second chapter! I thought I would have to delete this story after only one go, but I've found my inspiration, and I will continue. This is my first attempt at an X men story. I'm not an expert on the facts, I don't claim to be. I only read a few of the comics, watch the show when it was a cartoon, and I've seen the movies more than enough times. Please Review!