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Chapter 4: Flight

Nicole had her music blasting in her eardrums while she put the last blouse in the closet. She sighed contently looking around the somewhat homey abode. Her dresser held a few picture frames of family and friends at various occasions. She had a section of her dresser with makeup and various floral and fruity scented perfumes on the other end. She hummed to the music while moving towards her bed to look at some of the documents the Professor had given to her. The beat drummed loudly in her ears and rocked her body with it. The white sheets were pressed and smoothed before her arrival and they felt crisp to her touch. She sat down Indian style on the bed and lifted a few papers to her face. Her lips were moving doing a terrible reinvention of the song currently playing when the door opened hastily. She looked up quickly to see a grinning smile grace the face of Chantel accessorized by a rosy blush on her cheeks. Chantel stood against the door mouthing something to her but the sound of her music completely blocked her out.

Nicole quickly pulled her earphones off to hear her friend ramble on waving her hands about her dramatically.

"Hold on, hold on!" Nicole asked as she turned off her mp3 and set her earphones down delicately. She moved her papers to the side out of harm's way and motioned for her friend to join her on the bed. "Ok! Tell me everything! What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Well he basically asked me if I wanted to go to the movies this weekend after danger room practice." Chantel said excitedly practically bouncing in the same spot.

"Ok?" She said. "I thought you were already together?"

Chantel rolled her eyes. "We kinda are…look its weird I know. But, you know men are slow at these sort of things and I don't want to put a label on us already." She rushed through clearly trying to collect her thoughts as she spoke.

Nicole looked at her sideways not really buying anything she was saying. "Sure…" She stated choosing to just let it go and hope the two work something out that they could put a name on and explain to her when they figured it out. "Well, I never knew you would like someone from the West Coast." Nicole stated looking up at the ceiling thinking back on the catalogue of information from their friendship.

"Yeah, he's Native American from some weird place called Forks. Literally, the place is in the middle of nowhere. He used to stay on a reservation called La Push but he said he had to get out of there. Something about wolves and blood sucking mosquitoes." Chantel mumbled confused about the statement herself. "Hold on let me go put on my night clothes. I'll be back ok!"

Soon as she left Nicole got up and changed as well. She put on her blue Tinkerbell pants and a plain light green tank top. When she finished Chantel knocked and came in wearing a large UCF T-shirt and black shorts.

"Ok! Now we can talk." Stated Nicole sitting on her bed excitedly to talk to her best friend like old times.

"Yeah so how do you like it so far?" Chantel asked.

"It's good! It's better than I expected. Everyone is so friendly and already I'm getting a job offer thanks to the Professor."

"See! It's all good. Here in the mansion we are all like one big normal dysfunctional family. But everyone has those, right?"

Nicole laughed at this. "Yes…I guess. I haven't got to meet everyone's crazy yet." Nicole said before jumping down off of her bed and bending below it.

Chantel watched her curiously. "Don't worry. You'll meet everyone's crazy sure enough. I'm surprised! You have lasted this long without seeing Scott go off on someone for doing something foolish."

Nicole dug under her bed for something and pulled out a large bag of ruffles and dip. She reached again and found her box of brownie bits. Chantel looked at her with raised eyebrows at first. Then she clapped excitedly to see all the goods in her hold.

Nicole placed her things on the bed and sat down on it. "I didn't know if you had snacks! Of course this is going to need refrigeration afterwards." She stated holding the dip in her left hand and twisting the protective lid off.

"I'll ask Bobby! Of course he will demand payment in that he partakes in these food binges." Chantel said before she opened up the chips hurriedly.

"Maybe we can put it in the back of the fridge?" Nicole offered as a solution.

Chantel popped a salty chip in her mouth and munched loudly. "Yeah, good luck with that. I will give it an hour before it is found and consumed if not by the little kids then one of the adults."

Nicole shook her head. "Bobby it is then. That's the guy that can freeze stuff right?" she asked for clarification.

"Yeah Bobby aka Iceman." She stated dramatically while dipping a chip inside the cool ranch dip.

Nicole ate a brownie bit before something crossed her mind. "Why does everyone have weird nicknames? I notice yall call each other regular names but when yall are coming back from wherever, you refer to everyone something different. Except for a few." Nicole said thinking on the incident a few nights before while popping a chip in her mouth.

"Well the Professor sort of gives us a name that he finds to fit us. At first I thought it was for identity keeping but now I feel as though it's the Professor's way for being sentimental. Of course we can rebuke it and the Professor will use our real names. No one has ever made a big deal out of it. As for the X-men, it comes with the package. You get a nickname, a fighting suit, and a specific specialty." Explained Chantel exchanging the bag of chips for the brownie box.

"Oh ok so what is yours?" Nicole asked enthusiastically.

"It"s Flare. The Professor said not only because of my power but he says my powers have a thing for theatrics." Chantel explained laughing a bit at the memory.

"Oh and what's everybody else's?"

Chantel went in on a long journey of names of associating nicknames from the youngest to the oldest. Nicole sat in attention enjoying the stories behind the names and also some of the comical names given to others by members in the house. Along the way of explaining names and background history, the relationship dynamics between the group members bubbled to the surface.

"Okay so Jean goes with Scott. Kurt likes Kitty…but Kitty likes Bobby who likes another girl at their school. Logan and Rogue have something weird going on. Rogue used to date Remy." Nicole said recapping everything.

"Pretty much! Remy and Rogue's relationship was one for television." Chantel said shaking her head and stuffing her mouth with more chips and dip. "But now things have changed. I can't really tell who is with whom."

Nicole thought on this. "But it doesn't look like it gets in the way of business. I've been in a room with the team and for the most part I haven't heard anything harsh. I mean I heard a few negative comments thrown about."

Chantel laughed while trying not to choke. "That's because you're new. Trust me, you're going to get a real taste pretty soon. Give it some time."

They stood up to three in the morning talking about their lives, school, events, X-men, missions, enemies, other people's lives, love interests, etc. They laughed until it hurt followed by of course an occasional knock on the wall from her neighbor to keep it down. This of course only encouraged their giggles further. Both rambled on unaware that the words they had spoken in confidence had been heard.


That Saturday, Nicole explored the mansion and met a lot of the young students that were there bright and early having an early game of soccer that morning outside. She had awoken to a little note folded on the floor by the door that held a special request for her. The ink one the paper was signed by the Professor making her quite curious as to what her weekend would be like. The note simply said to find Jean after breakfast. This confused her because she was under the impression that she had a session with Rogue that day. Also, Jean was supposed to be on a mission to Egypt.

She walked outside of her door and laughed as conversation came about to wake their Saturday paint instructor from her slumber. Chantel did stay up late and she knew her friend would be up pass noon and then she probably would spend that time getting ready for her date. One of the kids saw her and knew his devious plans had been spoiled. Nicole smiled and greeted them properly being sure to put her arms around their necks and move them towards the kitchen. They walked down the stairs and groaned as she talked about the value of getting a nutritious breakfast and also avoiding annoying behavior. She sat down at the table and struck up a conversation with Kurt about his weekend activities. They parted and then she went back on her exploration for the red head.

Nicole continued to walk around until she ran into the red-headed woman that was currently sorting the mail into the cubby holes in the wall. Nicole looked back at the message the Professor had given her before looking back at the tall lean woman before her. She held a very laid back look with white shorts and a red tank top with sneakers. Nicole walked up to Jean who immediately turned around to greet her.

"Hey Nicole, your Chinese books finally came in!" Jean stated nudging her chin towards a few boxes in the corner.

"Awesome!" Nicole stated bending down to look inside. The Professor had spoken that she had a natural ability for languages and wanted to further foster her education. She had a slight suspicion that there may have been more to it than that but a little growth didn't hurt anyone. She peeled back the large folds of the box to see her study books and even another set in French. Smiling she covered it all back in its protective covering before standing up to ask her question.

"Hey Jean, I was told I had practice today with Rogue but I received this letter that my session will be with you." Nicole stated holding gup the letter she received.

"That's right. Rogue couldn't make it and Ororo had to go to D.C. So today, I'm going teach you the basics of flight."

"Cool! Finally, a break from the norm." Nicole expressed as Jean nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. You've been getting one on one with Ororo." Jean said placing the last bit of mail in the cubby. "She definitely doesn't like any slacking." Jean expressed before inviting her to follow. They walked until they came across the familiar entrance to the sublevel. Jean performed the proper codes and soon they found themselves surrounded by the familiar steel and pressure sealed doors. They spoke about their training experience before reaching the danger room. Nicole went to go change into her training uniform until she was stopped.

"You're just flying. You don't need a uniform for this." Jean stated while letting her go and walking through the open doors into the Danger Room. "We could have done this outside but I figured you would like a little bit of privacy to try without so many eyes watching. Especially in front of your pupils."

"My pupils?"

Jean stood with her hands on her hips. "Of course. You will be a tutor or maybe an instructor here too. The kids need a language teacher and you're so far very qualified in the task.

Nicole thought on this and grimaced which didn't go unnoticed by the redhead.

"Well the Professor is always looking out for us so who knows. But it would be pretty helpful with the kids and the curriculum diversity. But, that's for the Professor to work out. Now let's focus on getting you in the air. Now jump"

"What?" Nicole asked before doing a slight jump and landing normally.

Jean nodded. "Yes, you must first get use to the initial lift of your body and catching your weight. Flight is very easy to do. But you mustn't be scared to fall or have your feet off the ground otherwise you won't be able to do it. You'll constantly be thinking about the safety of the ground and thus you won't lift" Jean said watching the woman jump a few times. "I know this seems weird but it works."

Nicole jumped a few more times before Jean stopped her. "Okay stop! The Professor said your powers are based on you pushing yourself. So you muscle and mind must be engaged in order to do so. Now, I want you to push from underneath you." Jean instructed.

Nicole jumped and pushed….but nothing happened. She jumped a few times trying to focus on the activity at hand but her efforts were fruitless. Annoyance left a bitter taste on her tongue at her own failed attempt at flight. Also trying it in front of another person wasn't exactly an esteem booster. Jean was right to keep this a private lesson. She jumped again and landed down harshly blowing a bit at her frustration.

"Okay, okay, stop." Jean said as she grabbed her by her wrist. "Let's try a different approach. I want you to close your eyes and tune out everything." Jean commanded letting her go and stepping away again. Nicole did it a few more times. She jumped and puffed at each time she went up and down without experiencing the beautiful discovery of human flight.

Jean shook her head and crossed her arms. She wasn't one to teach these sort of lessons that is why Storm was very good at her job. Storm was patient and seemed to have a plethora of tricks and tips to get children and adults alike to tap into their mutant gene and develop their skills exponentially. Jean watched her go at it again before her senses caught her attention. Her head looked over to the door and she frowned. "I'll give you some time to practice while I go check on some things, OK!" Jean said before hurrying out the doors and rushing away from sight.

"Really? Or are you trying to escape!?" Nicole yelled out. Nicole mumbled a few things underneath her breath before jumping again. She repeated this for some time which unfortunately left her alone with her thoughts and sullen mood. Her leg muscles were starting to get tired and already she was beginning to develop negative thoughts regarding her current ability to catch on and keep up.

"Well look who I managed to find again!" A familiar voice said along with the resounding sound of footsteps. She turned around to see the Cajun man himself strolling in casually seemingly confused at her behavior.

"Cher, jumpin like that won't get yah nowhere ma joli!"

"Well, then please give me another method because this is getting redundant." She stated placing her hands on her hips and looking quite exasperated by it all.

"C'est la vi mademoiselle!" He said as he came closer. (That's Life he's says in French.) He looked at her again and frowned. "An dats no way ta learn, Cher. Here I'll teach ya a trick dat I heard Stormy give. Close ya eyes and clear de mind."

Nicole nodded and stepped forward a bit closer to him. She looked at him wearily not so much as trusting as when she first started this journey of flight. But, she didn't have any other options at the moment. Hesitantly, she closed her eyes and tried to do what she was told. Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands hold her arms and lift her by her torso. She went to look but the Cajun quickly began telling her not to. She squeezed them shut and just focused on everything being free from her mind. It took a bit of time to tune out the strength in the muscle that she could feel being held in his grip above the ground steadily.

"Okay Nicole, I want yo' to push down fro yo' feet. Don't tink bout it. I want yo' ta' jus' feel de air inside o' yo' and den yo' try an' push it down." He explained.

Nicole focused on performing the task at hand. Her skin tingled from her toes to her fingertips. She felt an odd sensation underneath her and a thought from her gut urging her to push against the air beneath her. She focused on pushing the air beneath her and the tingling sensation began to go away. The warmth of firm hands disappeared from her midsection. She moved her leg down and noticed that she came in contact with nothing. She hastily moved her foot downward around her and still nothing. She opened her eyes in panic to find herself floating in the air about a few inches above the Cajun. His cheeky grin planted firm on his face and directed at her viewing pleasure.

"Oh shit!" She shouted excitedly as she pushed with one leg and went forward towards him. He laughed and stepped back away from her yet still close by if she was to fall. She moved again with the biggest smile on her face. Her hands flung out wildly as if she was trying to stay balanced on a strand of string like a trapeze artist. She experimentally shifted her weight backwards and ironically enough her body went. Excitement filled her up like helium to a balloon. Finally feeling somewhat tired, she began to slowly climb down until her feet touched the ground soundly.

Nicole wiped her forehead with her arm and looked up at him. "I'm tired from that."

Remy looked at her thoughtfully before he spoke. "Dat is a question fo' Stromy. I ave' no experience in dat matta' Cher." Remy explained while reaching in his pocket for his cards.

Nicole nodded and with a big intake of breath she jumped up in the air and managed to lift until she once again came down. He watched her keep trying and each time she was successful. She laughed a few times and he could feel her enjoyment. He eerily felt envious of her ability. He found himself always envious of those that were gifted with the flight gene.

"You should feel truly blessed ya' got such an opportunity. Yo' ave' a gift ta' fly beyond any barriers dis world has set." Remy stated watching her turn to him in the air and fly down in front of him. Her face was glistening and she looked as if she would need a nap soon. But it did nothing to erase the look of pure glee. He pulled out his desk and shuffled quickly captivating her attention.

"I'm grateful! I never said I wasn't besides… your one to talk G-A-M-B-I-T." She said as she annunciated the letters slowly. Her hands reached up to take the cards quickly but she found they were quickly taken out of her reach.

He stepped closer and now they were toe to toe. He towered a bit over her but she looked up at him without fear or intimidation. "I see da' word haz gon' around already bout dis here Gambit. Yo' work fast petite. Oui! I do love a good game especially if de stakes are high. But rest assured I play to win…an' I do jus' dat." He muttered watching her smirk up at his statement.

"Really now? Well I do enjoy a good card game. How about we test these so called skills of yours. I will destroy you in Gin, Poker, or Spades." She said confidently her ego showing just a little. Her eyes sunk deep into pools of red and black. She was amazed of how expressive they were when directed at you. She fought to swim upwards a bit and not drown in them too soon.

"Dem some big words comin' from such a small ting. Yo' sure yo' can back those words up?" He asked with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"Does it look like I'm playing? Come on…any day!" She cajoled.

"Fine den… lets hold a little wager mon ami. In three months yo' should be done wit your little lessons o' control. Afterward meet me out in de courtyard to play a round of Gin when yo' catch your break. Dat way, we ave' plenty o' time to focus on our match. Now o' course there are gains ta' be made."

"Okay! If I win you have to be my personal chauffeur for a month at any time of the day or night." She haughtily stated.

"Accord, If I win…yo' ave' to clean my shoes an' do my laundry for a month, mon ami."

"Fine! You better practice! You have three months." She said stretching a bit.

"I don't need to' gal. Remy is de king of the card table. Dey don't call me Gambit fo' nothin'."

"Oh I'm not talking about that. I mean practice your routes around the mansion and from here to Shake Shack. I don't want you taking forever to get my order." She boasted. Her smile grew wider at his grin. "But seriously, thanks for the session."

He performed a very theatric bow before standing up. He walked towards her again and leaned in so that his mouth was merely a breath away from her face. She backed away a bit unprepared at his actions. She felt something tug in her hand and she looked down to see it was a card. She looked up to see him walking away alike a feline that got into the cream. "Be ready to play Cher. Like I said…I play to win." With that he walked away.

The smile she wore stuck permanently to her face as she watched him leave the room. Rolling her eyes at his character she looked away with a blush unsure of how to process what just happened. She suddenly noticed that her left hand d started to sting a little. She immediately looked down and saw it heating up in a red like glow. She threw it down away from her and as soon as it hit it lightly exploded. A loud growl came from her throat and she frowned. She wanted to run up to him and just punch the crap out of him. Her fist came up and she moved to go after him until she noticed something in her other hand. A card crinkled from her fist sat in her palm. She analyzed it, and saw that it was the Queen of Spades. Her head titled in confusion at this not knowing what to make of it. Quickly, she tucked it into her pants pocket for future research. With a confused mind and excited demeanor of the best to come, she locked the room and went in search for fresh air and a clearer mind.